Give Me Life
by Lyowyn
Summary: Slash, Harry becomes aware that he might just fancy his potions professor at roughly the same time that Severus decides he has a thing for one of his students. Possible fluff, lots of tension, rating likely to increase. PotterSnape,with some BlackLupin
1. Something About You

Author's Note: I know I shouldn't actually be starting another story, but I've fallen in love with this pairing and I had this rumbling around up there with the cobwebs. My muse had been rendered unconscious at the time, so it's not his fault.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Give Me Life is a Daniel Powter song, and Something About You is by Five For Fighting.

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Give Me Life

Chapter One

Something About You

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It's been a long time coming.

For Harry anyway, it all started the summer before fifth year.

He would have liked to have blamed it on hormones, but, to tell the truth, he wasn't exactly going through puberty anymore and his hormones had more or less leveled off to a manageable level. So how then had this happened? Well, that wasn't a question Harry was interested in answering; he didn't much fancy what the answer might be.

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He was in one of the spare rooms trying, rather unsuccessfully, to rid it of doxies. The ones that had managed to flee the massacre in the drawing room had settled comfortably into some tattered linens in the wardrobe. They had used all of the doxycide on the curtains, and Harry was having a particularly hard time of stunning the little buggers. He didn't understand; he never had this much trouble. That stunning spell was like second nature to him by now.

He must have been making an awful lot of noise, because, after about the hundredth time he had yelled, "Stupefy," and tried to grab a stunned doxy before it shook itself off and attacked him, he was interrupted.

"What _are_ you doing in here, Potter?"

Harry turned to see his greasy hook-nosed potions professor. "I'm trying,' he started, but was cut off as the doxy he currently had clutched in his hand bit him and made a bid for freedom. Harry managed to fling the offending creature to the floor and give it a few good kicks.

"I hope you have antidote for that," Snape said, once Harry had asserted himself.

Harry dug a vial out of his pocket and downed it, wincing. Just then, another doxy flew at him, and he tried ineffectually to stun it.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Snape strode across the room, his black robes billowing impressively. He stood behind Harry and grabbed the boy's wand hand roughly. Harry tried to push him off, but Snape grabbed his other hand too. The doxy bite stung under the pressure, but Harry hardly noticed as Snape took control of his wand.

Snape moved Harry's hand in a wide swoop and said, "Stupefy," in a forceful commanding voice. Harry was blown away by the feeling of vast power being channeled through him. It was mind-blowing, to an almost literal degree. He could feel parts of his brain that he never knew he had, being opened to channel out all of that power. The euphoria was like that sated moment just after an orgasm.

The doxies fell unconscious to the floor with a simultaneous dull thump, and Snape released Harry.

Harry staggered for a second, feeling raw and used. He tried to form words, but only managed a little fish-like gaping.

"Yes Potter, I think that should take care of them."

"I didn't know you could do that."

"I can do lots of things Potter, and what you don't know could fill libraries: does, in fact, fill libraries." Snape sneered. "Where is your godfather?"

"What do you want Sirius for?" Harry asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Not that it's any of your business Potter, but I have a letter for him from the other mutt. Perhaps you could pass along the message that I am not an owl and I do not enjoy couriering back and forth their sappy love letters." Snape dug into his robes and drew out an envelope, handing it to Harry. "Perhaps you could give this to him and save me the trouble of carrying a response."

Harry stared dumbfounded at the letter in his hand. It said "To my Padfoot," in Remus' handwriting on the front. But the red ink it was written in, and a certain emphasis on the word _my_, gave off a distinct love-sick impression.

Snape, as accomplished as he was at reading people in general and Harry in particular, did not mistake the expression on Harry's face. He quickly snatched the letter back. "Maybe I'll just give it to him myself after all."

But, it was too late; it seemed the damage had been done.

"Are Sirius and Lupin…," but Harry trailed off, unable to voice the idea.

"Look, I didn't know that they hadn't told you, but maybe this will convince them to deliver their messages in person." Snape said with his usual sneer. But if he didn't know better, he would have said that Snape actually looked a bit surprised: seemed apologetic even, defensive.

But, Snape was already on his way out the door.

"Thank you," Harry called after him.

Snape paused in the doorway. "Yes, well it's just a good thing that I'm not responsible for your abysmal wand work; I'd have to resign," Snape shot back. Mumbling, "Can't even do a simple stunning spell," and then he was gone.

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Yeah, well after that Harry had the feeling he'd never have trouble with another stunning spell, ever again. He shivered, as he was hit by a reverberation of that sweet invasion of power. "Stupefy," indeed.

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Come on, hit the button; tell me you love me.


	2. Strange Thing

Author's Note: I debated how I wanted to proceed with this for a couple of days. I finally decided to more or less follow Rowling's plot. I did, however, choose to keep most all of the characters alive. Obviously I can't have a romance story if one of my characters is dead… well I guess I could, but necrophilia's not really my thing. I mean, I already got called a pedophile because of this story, so I probably shouldn't push it. I also kept Sirius alive, because, unlike Rowling, I have a conscience and couldn't bear killing him. I did find the need to leave Dumbledore dead though, while I love him as a character having him alive would play merry hell with the plot. Right, so I hope that doesn't make things too confusing. This chapter takes place about a year after the last book.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Strange Thing is a song by The Buzzcocks.

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Give Me Life

Chapter Two

Strange Thing

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It took nearly dying and a war for Severus Snape to stop thinking of Harry Potter as anything but a pompous over-confident Gryffindor brat. And, by the time that Severus finally accepted that he might have lost his feelings of animosity towards the boy, it was too late. The whole thing rather took him by surprise.

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Severus was sitting in his office behind his desk waiting for Potter to speak. It was rather interesting sitting there watching the savior of the wizarding world fidget like a frightened first year. It was almost a comfort knowing that he still had the power to make Potter uneasy even after all that they had been through.

"What was it you wanted to see me about Potter?" he asked after it became clear that the other man wasn't going to speak unless he was prompted.

Potter took a deep breath. "I was hoping to apply for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. I assume it's still open."

Severus tilted his head ever so slightly to one side, peering at the boy. He looked much older than his nineteen years. He was probably the only one in the world who had fared worse after the Dark Lord's demise. Severus knew that the boy had lost his place in the grand scheme of things; he understood that. And it must be harder for Potter than for most because his destiny had been laid out for him since he was an infant flying around on a toy broomstick.

The Daily Prophet had the boy living in some obscure part of muggle London, keeping a low profile, and avoiding… well, the Daily Prophet really. That didn't stop the paper from plastering pictures of Harry all over its cover anyway. Though, most of the readers could probably care less whether the boy who lived preferred 2 percent or skim milk when he walked round to the corner shop.

From what else Severus could gather, the boy had been offered several prestigious positions within the ministry and had turned them all down. No surprise there, the boy's distaste for the ministry of magic was equally prestigious. But, it had also come to Severus' attention that Potter had turned down offers from just about every Quiddich team on the planet, and that did come as a bit of a shock. Severus had just supposed that Potter intended to take some time off from the world. After defeating Lord Voldemort the boy probably deserved it too. He wasn't even twenty yet, after all, and he'd never really been given a chance to enjoy the normal pursuits of youth. But, he supposed he should have known better: given the boy some credit. There were plenty of bad traits he could attribute to Harry Potter, even if no one else could see them, but laziness had never been on the list: poor work ethic, yes, short attention span, definitely, but never laziness.

So here Potter was, after his short hiatus, having turned down what probably amounted to hundreds of excellent job offers, promising world-wide esteem and accreditation, sitting in Severus' office nervously asking for the job no one would take.

Well, he should have expected something like that from Potter.

The real question at hand wasn't why Potter wanted the position, but, rather, whether or not Severus would give it to him. Potter had done remarkably well in the war, which should be taken into consideration, especially when he was only seventeen at the time. But, quite as usual, Severus thought this should be attributed to his incredible unabashedly bald faced luck and a healthy dose of sheer stupidity, rather than to any skill or planning on the boy's part. Still, he'd shown bravery, foolish Gryffindor bravery, and he'd kept his head. Hell, the boy had walked knowingly to his death for the sake of everyone else without question when he had been told that it was necessary. It even made Severus reevaluate his views on the boy.

Severus just wanted to give Potter anything he wanted. Potter deserved to be happy, if the Defense Against the Dark Arts job would make him happy, then he could have it. Besides, it wasn't as though he had any other applicants. Potter would probably do a better job than whatever half-mad, anthropomorphic, or murderous waste of magical ability he could find that was dumb enough to take the job this year.

He picked a quill up off his desk and began scribbling a quick memo to McGonagall on a spare piece of parchment. "If you want the job Potter, it's yours."

"Really?" he asked. He didn't sound as though this was the answer he was expecting. Oh well, so much for that Potter confidence.

Severus looked up at him. "Yes, really. If it ever got out that I told the great Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world, that he was not qualified to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at my school I would never hear the end of it." Severus smirked at him. "Besides, worst case scenario, I'll only have to put up with your noisome company for one year."

Harry grinned at the jibe, ready with one of his own. "Well if I can't handle it I'll make sure to go your route, and tender my resignation by blasting the headmaster off the Astronomy Tower."

"Just try it Potter. I think we've established that your dumb luck doesn't work on me, and my wand still likes me better than you."

Potter snorted. "Yeah, well it's the only one."

"Don't be so sure Potter. Just see how far your popularity holds when you're presented with a classroom full of obstinate first year Gryffindors." Severus went back to scribbling on his parchment. "I trust that you know where your classroom is. You are free to move your things into your office whenever you wish. The term begins September first as always, and I will expect your lesson plans before then. If you need anything feel free to ask someone else."

There was a long pause while Severus could feel Potter's eyes boring into his forehead. "Something else Potter?" he asked, not looking up.

The boy's voice sounded reluctant. "The Order is having a barbeque next week, and Remus wanted me to invite you while I was here."

Severus sneered. "So that's what we're down to then Potter? No more dark wizards around, and we are reduced to eating pork chops and playing gnome toss?"

"I guess. So, er, will you come then?"

Severus put his quill firmly down on the desk and looked up at Potter, fully intending to tell him no in the most humiliating manner he could come up with. But then he made the mistake of meeting the boy's eyes: Lily's eyes where they had no right to be, peering out of James Potter's skull. But he couldn't deny those eyes anything, and if Potter wanted him there he would attend the damned barbeque. Though, how that would possibly make Potter happy, he couldn't fathom.

"Where is it?" he sighed.

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"Damned eyes," Severus grumbled hours later, trying to sleep, and desperate to think of anything other than Harry Potter. It was apt to be a very long school year indeed, if every time he had a conversation with Potter he was reduced to the mental capacity of a sixteen-year-old.

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Author's Note: I know that chapter was short, but it was kind of paired with the last one; the next one will be much longer I promise. I should have another chapter up for Eternally Yours in a day or two for anyone who's interested. And it is my birthday today (for another whole minute) so you all have to review…..cause it's my birthday and I wants it precious.


	3. Linger

Author's Note: I actually had this entire chapter finished months ago, it just needed a little editing, but then my computer bit the dust. My hard drive was corrupted; apparently I dropped my laptop on the floor one too many times. I really need to stop falling asleep with my computer sitting on the edge of my bed. So anyway, you kids are just lucky I managed to find the rough draft.

As a reminder, and I think I mentioned this in the previous chapter, a great many people that died in the books are living and well in this story. The events of the war happened more or less as they did in the books, but there were a lot fewer casualties. Severus is alive, obviously, and this is because Harry saved his life. I will probably go into more detail about that in later chapters. But yeah, if someone that isn't supposed to be alive is, just go with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Linger is a song by The Cranberries.

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Give Me Life

Chapter Three

Linger

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What the hell was he doing here? Severus glanced around at the Weasley's unkempt back lawn. The Burrow, fitting really, seeing as the lot of the ginger-headed gits seemed to procreate like rabbits. His gaze fell back to where it had been most of the afternoon: to Harry.

The dream team was currently lounging about by the garden gate, feigning interest in some plant that Neville Longbottom was showing them. Severus averted his gaze suddenly as someone sat down next to him on the bench he was occupying.

"Hello, Severus," Remus Lupin said, as he stretched to pick an apple from the tree that was giving them shade.

"Lupin," Severus inclined his head.

He and Remus had developed an amicable relationship during the war. Severus had come to respect the man; Remus' work undercover with the werewolves mirrored Severus' own with the Death Eaters. And, even without Lupin's sacrifices for the order, the man deserved a medal; anyone who could survive being mated to Sirius Black for over twenty years deserved to be commended, as far as he was concerned.

The deviant in question displayed his knack for unpleasant timing as he chose that moment to arrive.

"Hey Snivellus," he said, grinning as he wrapped an arm around his husband and stole the poor man's apple. "You're looking particularly greasy today," he added through a mouthful of Remus' apple.

"And I thought that, by forty, even a mangy Gryffindor mutt like you would have learned not to talk with your mouth full, but I guess I was mistaken," Severus sneered back.

Remus just ignored their bickering, by now he was used to this sort of behavior out of both of them. "I didn't expect to see you here Severus," he said, trying to change the subject.

"I have some business with Minister Shacklebolt, and I was hoping he would be here. I can't set foot in the ministry these days without being hounded by at least two dozen people who want to talk to me; I don't understand how Albus put up with it for all those years."

"Yes, imagine anyone wanting to talk to you." Sirius put in.

Remus elbowed him without looking away from Severus. "Arthur said that Kingsley was running a little late, but he should be here before dinner."

Severus nodded and glanced over to the house where a couple of the older Weasley boys were setting up tables and chairs near a large muggle grill.

"So, Harry's told us that you've given him the Defense Against the Dark Arts position," Remus said.

"Unfortunately, Potter was the most qualified applicant. Besides, last I checked, the position was still cursed; it might be a good way to be rid of the pesky brat."

Sirius was up in a flash, wand out. "IF YOU HARM ONE HAIR ON HARRY'S HEAD, YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO ME PERSONALLY!"

Severus surveyed Sirius calmly; he was quite used to threats by now. "Do try to calm you temper Black. Your threats are hardly necessary. Contrary to popular belief, I do not actually wish Potter to come to harm, despite all the mental anguish he has caused me over the years. It's not as though I asked Harry to take the position, though it seems to be the only one that wasn't offered to him on a silver platter. Besides, he's your godson Black; if you want to play the part of the over-protective mother, perhaps Potter would consent to being sealed inside a plastic bubble."

Sirius growled at him, and Remus put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe you should get the mutt a collar if he won't behave, Lupin. The obedience training doesn't seem to be helping, perhaps a muzzle?"

Sirius raised his wand again and drew in breath to continue yelling, but had it knocked out of him as he was slapped hard on the back. He spun around to reveal a pair of grinning Weasleys.

"There there now Sirius," Fred said.

"No need for raised voices," added George.

"I'm pretty sure that they can hear you in Wales, in any case."

"Haven't you gents learned how to play nicely yet?"

Sirius gave both of them a withering look, but allowed Remus to lead him back to the bench.

"What are you boys up to?" Remus asked, sitting down between Sirius and Severus.

"Waiting around for Kingsley."

"The ministry has a ban on several of our newest products, and we need to have a little chat with him," George clarified.

"And if he won't lift the ban, then we're just going to have to lock him in the cupboard until he sees reason." Fred added.

Remus snorted, "Just make sure you let him out to use the bathroom."

"Of course, we can't have the minister wetting his pants." Fred joked, but his tone turned serious as he turned his attention to Snape. "It has come to our attention that you've coerced our benefactor into becoming a _teacher_."

"As you can tell, my brother and I take a fair bit of opposition to this idea."

"Well," Fred turned to his brother, "_took_, really."

"Yes, took a fair bit of opposition to the idea."

"But, then we thought about it some more, and a whole world of opportunities opened up."

"Enterprising opportunities."

Fred grinned at Severus. "It only seemed fair to give you ample warning."

George added his own grin. "Watch your back, Snape."

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What was wrong with him? Harry couldn't keep his eyes off Snape. He had managed to at least pretend to be mildly interested in whatever Neville was prattling on about, when a glimpse of motion out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he couldn't help but glance up at him again.

It was Remus that had caught his eye, and he watched the two men talk comfortably for a few moments before his godfather came looking for Remus. It didn't take long for Snape to say something to get Sirius' cockles up, and he watched the events that followed anxiously, jumping a little when Sirius began bellowing. But, whether for Fred and George's timely arrival or because Remus finally managed to get a rein on his lover, things didn't progress much past what could be expected whenever the two men were within a hundred feet of one another.

Harry strained his ears to hear what they were talking about now that the yelling had stopped, but couldn't catch a word. And then his view was blocked by a pair of identical smiling red-heads. He'd been staring so intently at Snape that he hadn't even noticed Fred and George walking over.

"Well if it isn't Professor Potter," Fred said.

"We're very disappointed in you," George added.

"Here we were, thinking that you meant it when you solemnly swore that you were up to no good."

"And then, you go and turn teacher on us. Have you no shame?"

"You're lucky Sirius hasn't disowned you," Fred added after a slight pause. "We have half a mind to disown you ourselves."

"His half," George supplied. "But then we talked to our good pal Snape just now, and we've come up with something so much better than repudiation."

"Really makes the whole thing worthwhile, I think, George; don't you?"

"Oh yes, definitely," George agreed.

"Ah well, as much as we'd love to stand here chatting all day, we have things to do, places to be, ministers of magic that need locking in cupboards."

"Work, work, work," George mumbled as he followed his twin back to The Burrow.

Harry heard Ron's stifled laughter beside him. "You're in for it now, Harry."

Harry ignored him. He could handle anything Fred and George had to throw at him; they were his friends and it was all in good fun. What worried him was a lot less familiar and a lot more unpredictable.

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Once the twins had left, the discussion shifted towards books and what sorts of things Harry should consider covering in his curriculum. Sirius soon lost interest and began running his hands through his mate's hair and nuzzling the man's neck.

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Once the twins had left, Hermione brought up the subject of textbooks and what sorts of things Harry should be sure to cover when he devised his curriculum. Ron immediately fell asleep.

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From across the yard, Harry and Severus met each other's gaze as they listened to the exact same lecture from Remus and Hermione respectively.

Feeling caught, Harry raised a hand and waved to him.

Severus raised a hand in return.

Harry beamed.

Hermione finally stopped prattling and craned her head around to see over her shoulder. "Who are you grinning at?"

"Sirius and Remus are over there under the apple tree," Harry said. He stood up and brushed himself off. "I think I'll just go and say hello. Ron looks like he could use a cup of tea; maybe you should take him inside."

When Harry reached the apple tree, he realized that he had a distinct lack of game plan, and he wished that he would have just stayed by the garden gate with the others.

"Hello Harry," Sirius greeted, before Harry had to figure out what to say. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I am. I haven't seen Luna or Neville all summer." He felt awkward standing in front of the three of them sitting on the bench.

"Molly told me they were engaged," Remus said.

Severus snorted and turned to him, "Really?"

"That's the word."

"Just last week," Harry affirmed. Severus snorted again. "And here I was, thinking that the Longbottom line couldn't get any worse. If they ever have any children, I'll have to resign my post."

Inwardly, Harry agreed with Snape, but he quickly jumped to the defense of his friends. "They're happy together!" he said. It sounded lame, even to his own ears, but apparently it was the best he could come up with.

"Oh, I'm sure they are," Snape said. "They make an excellent pair. I just don't believe that they should procreate."

Sirius was trying not to laugh, and Remus looked a little offended.

"Don't sit there and snigger, Black. I feel the same way about you two mongrels."

Sirius wrapped an arm around Remus and pulled him close. "Moony and I would have beautiful brilliant children," he said with his nose in the air. "You're just jealous Snivellus. If you procreated with a troll, you would have to hope the child inherited its mother's genetic makeup."

"As always, Black, I feel the same way about you."

"Would the two of you ever have children," Harry asked quickly, hoping to waylay any wandplay.

Snape snorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Remus gave him a warning look, and then tuned to give a dose to his partner, who was positioned similarly with his arms crossed. "Sirius and I have discussed it at length and decided that it's not worth the risk."

"Remus thinks he's too old," Sirius said.

"There's still a chance that the baby could be born with lycanthropy."

"Not with the potion."

"If the potion wasn't brewed properly…"

Snape cleared his throat at this, and Remus broke off. Snape was wearing a sour imperious look on his face. "We've been through this. I've had more than one very unpleasant conversation with your lover on that score; and, whether you mean to suggest that I would intentionally harm your hypothetical unborn child or that I am incompetent, you know that neither is the case. If you don't want to bear his children, and Merlin knows no one would consider that a fault, then you need to tell him and stop trying to shift the attention away from yourself by involving me. I'm going to go and see if I can find Kingsley." He made to leave, but then paused for a second and turned back. "Besides, if you're so concerned, having Black carry the child would certainly minimize the risks." With that, Snape flapped off towards the burrow, scattering chickens in his wake.

Remus turned to his partner, smiling sweetly, and Sirius' face turned ashen.

"Oh no, Moony, don't even think about it." Sirius crossed his fingers, as though to ward off a vampire.

"You were the one saying that you wanted to have children: complaining about how Harry's all grown up, and how you missed his childhood. Really, this is the perfect solution. I'm starting to like the idea of having a baby. How do you fancy being an uncle, Harry? Or godfather? I think we'll definitely have to make Harry godfather, Padfoot; don't you?"

Sirius gaped, trying to think up a really good argument as to why he couldn't possibly bear their children, and coming up empty.

"Maybe you're right. We're getting a bit long in the tooth to be running after any puppies." Sirius settled for the cute and pathetic approach.

"Oh no, you're not getting off that easy. Not after you've been on about this for the last month."

"Maybe we could find a surrogate. I'm sure Tonks would…"

Remus cut him off with a look. "Why, when I suggested it last week, did you completely disregard the idea?"

"Well, I…" Sirius looked pleadingly to Harry for support.

"Don't even think of dragging me into this." Harry chuckled and shook his head. "I'm going to go save Snape from Minister Shacklebolt."

"Why does Severus need saving?" Remus asked.

Harry smirked. "Kingsley is going to be furious when he finds out that I'm working for Snape, after I declined his offer of deputy minister about nineteen times."

As Harry started towards The Burrow, he could hear them start arguing again. It had taken him a little while to get used to the idea that Sirius and Remus had been together longer than he'd been a live, and a good deal longer still to get used to the idea that they hadn't trusted him enough to tell him. Still, he didn't have any right to feel angry; he hadn't exactly casually brought up the fact that he fancied men either. But, he had a very good reason for this; the one man that he fancied in particular just happened to be Severus Snape, and somehow he didn't think that would go over too well. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad though; Remus and Snape seemed to be getting on pretty well these days. Even the snide remarks from Sirius were more playful than hostile lately. Harry supposed that, after a long enough period of time, your enemies became too familiar not to be your friends. All the same, maybe he'd keep the liking Snape bit to himself when he told them.

Arthur Weasley was wrestling with a couple of picnic tables as Harry reached the front steps, and Harry rushed over to give him a hand.

"Thanks Harry," Arthur puffed, as together they finally managed to subdue the feral tables.

"No problem," Harry wiped the sweat off his face with one sleeve. "Have you seen Kingsley?"

"Why is everyone suddenly looking for the minister?"

Harry shrugged. "He's a popular guy. Is he around?

"Helping Molly in the kitchen," Arthur said as he sunk down onto one of the tables, which had finally decided to cooperate. "But you'll have to wait in line. Mundungus, Fred, George, and Headmaster Snape are all in there already.

Speaking of Snape, I heard he hired you as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Congratulations! I can't think of a better man for the job."

"Thanks Mr. Weasley." Harry was happy for the vote of confidence.

As the start of the new school term approached, he was beginning to feel more and more nervous. He'd held a similar position with the DA, but that had been amongst his peers. Now, he'd be teaching a bunch of impressionable youths who looked up to him as a hero. That was a lot to live up to, and he was starting to feel the stress of having to live up to everyone's expectations of him. Still, with Snape around, he'd have plenty of motivation. It was going to be an interesting year.

"I better go inside and secure my place in line," Harry said, "before there's another rush."

Arthur chuckled and waved him on, and Harry went into the house.

He met Snape in the hallway and gave him a smile. "Is this the end of the line then?"

"Molly kicked me out of the kitchen," Snape replied. "She said that she couldn't have so many people crowding around when she was trying to cook, and that I'd have to wait my turn."

Harry grinned. "I wouldn't get on the wrong side of Molly Weasley if I were you; she may seem kindhearted enough, but I've seen what she can do when she gets angry. Besides, it had to happen sooner or later, Snape, you can't always come out on top."

"As long as I have one up on you, Potter."

Fred and George burst out of the kitchen then, cursing loudly about bureaucracy in the ministry and outdated regulations.

Harry and Snape exchanged a glance.

"Guess you're up next boss; good luck." Harry said, smiling at him cheekily.

"Oh, you're coming with me, Potter." Severus grabbed the younger man by the elbow and dragged him unceremoniously into the kitchen.

"Oi, that's assault!" Harry straightened his robes and tried his best to look indignant, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. _My, my, my, wasn't he just the masochist? _"Did you see him assaulting me, Minister? That's harassment, that is."

"You might as well get used to it, Potter," Snape retorted. "If I'm going to be eating all my meals at the same table as you, I might not be able to restrain myself." _Merlin, what was he saying?_

Harry's grin just broadened. "If restraint is what you need, I'm sure it could be arranged." _Okay, this was getting a little out of hand._ He just couldn't help himself.

"Any excuse to hit you, Potter."

The minister was eyeing them both. He wasn't quite sure if they were joking or not. "Can I help you with something, Severus?"

"Ministry regulations require me to tell you, as much as it truly pains me to say it, that this is Professor Potter, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Ah, I see." It was all he could say. Kingsley had assumed that Severus would find someone to fill the position eventually, but the thought that said person would actually be competent had never crossed his mind. "You passed up Deputy Minister for that?" he asked finally, after giving Harry a good look over.

Harry shrugged. "Hogwarts is my home; it's where I belong. Besides, even Snape said that I was qualified."

"Only comparatively. I recognize that you've had some limited experience." His tone was as dry and cynical as ever, but his eyes held no malice, and there was a certain curl at the corner of his mouth that hinted at a smile.

The Minister was aghast at the man's gall, but Harry took it all in stride.

"I think you're right. You are much more qualified than I am." He smirked up at Snape. "You know, I think that you should teach Defense, and then I could be the Headmaster. We could take care of this thing right here."

"As much as I'd love to, there is the safety of the students to consider."

"You're right!" Harry conceded. "It's bad enough that they have to see you as often as they do now."

"It's amazing you've survived this long."

"Oh, that's quite enough out of both of you," Molly Weasley interrupted. "Here, take these out to the garden." She thrust a platter of food at each of them.

There didn't seem to be much room for argument, so they carried the food obediently outside. When they made it out into the garden and set the trays on the table, Severus let out a snort and Harry started giggling.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that amusing."

"Did you see the look on Kingsley's face?"

Severus' mouth quirked. "I'm not sure that he was expecting that."

Harry had managed to stop laughing, but was still smiling from ear to ear. "I'm going to have an owl waiting for me the moment I get home. He'll want to know if you've threatened me."

Snape cringed. "I'm going to have half the owls from the ministry roosting in my office; Kingsley will want to threaten me thoroughly. Definitely worth it though, that look on his face really was priceless."

"Definitely worth it."

Harry took a seat at the table, and took a carrot off the veggie tray that Mrs. Weasley had sent out with him.

Severus watched him crunching contentedly for a moment, and then took the seat across from him. "Did you really mean what you said in there?"

"Which part?" Harry asked, the tip of a second carrot almost touching his lips. He was thinking of Snape in a pair of handcuffs.

"About Hogwarts being home."

Harry's hand dropped away, and he looked at Severus speculatively. "Of course, why do you ask?"

"It just seemed an odd thing to say. I would have thought the muggles' or Black's…"

Harry cringed away from the thought that he would ever consider his aunt and uncle's house home. He tried not to show his revulsion, and answered truthfully without saying too much. It really didn't have anything to do with Severus. "My aunt and uncle allowed my presence, but privet drive was never home to me. As for Grimmauld Place, while Sirius and Remus always make me feel at home, I was never there long enough to develop any fondness for the place. No, Hogwarts was the first and only place I've ever called home. And, I think it always will be, whether that's where I hang my hat or not."

Severus stared at him for a long moment, lost in those emerald eyes. Not like his mother's at all really. They were deeper: filled with more pain and experience than anyone his age had any right to possess.

"Stop staring at me like I've got a wart on the end of my nose."

Severus pulled his gaze away, averting his eyes now. "Sorry. It's just, you're a smarter man than I give you credit for."

"Carful, I'll have to tell The Minister that you're threatening me again," Harry said. "Besides, you had it right the first time; I'm just a hapless sap with a scar on my forehead."

"You're that too of course. But you've proven to be slightly less of an idiot than I once thought. A fool yes, you're still a Gryffindor after all, but maybe not an idiot."

Harry smiled. "Well, now that you're being detrimental to my character, I suppose that I can take that as more of a compliment and less of a threat."

Snape nodded, a curt downward twitch of his head, and reached across the table for a slice of bell pepper from Harry's tray.

Harry grabbed for another carrot at the same time, allowing their hands to brush lightly against each other. Inside his heart was pounding, but outwardly he seemed completely unaware of the physical contact. Severus froze. It took all of his will to force his hand to move away, and, when it finally did, it was a jerky over-exaggerated motion.

Harry was horrified, thinking that Snape was repulsed by his touch, but he continued to feign ignorance of the whole encounter.

Fred and George chose that moment to saunter over with trays of their own; apparently Mrs. Weasley had allowed them back into the kitchen.

"Hey Harry," Fred said, plopping down next to him and depositing a plate or rolls. George sat down next to Snape, who looked uncomfortable, but George simply ignored him. Enmity between the two was to be expected, given that business with George's ear.

"So Harry," George said. "Mum says it will be another hour before all the food is ready."

"Fancy a game of Quiddich?" Fred finished.

"Yeah," Harry brightened, "just give me five minutes to apparate for my broom."

"Okay then, I get Ron and Ginny," said Fred.

"So, I'll go coerce Charlie into playing Keeper for me and Harry," said George. "Meet us in the back by the apple tree when you get back Har."

Then Fred and George took off to track down the other players, once more leaving Harry alone with Snape.

"Can't turn down a game of Quiddich," Harry said apologetically. "You should come and watch." With that, Harry rose from his seat, pulled out his wand, and disapparated on the spot.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry's flat in London had a small secluded back garden. If anyone had been peering over the fence, they would have seen the occupant of number nine appear out of thin air next to the faded patio swing.

Harry quickly looked about him to make sure that none of his muggle neighbors had heard him apparate into the yard. But this part of London was so busy at this time of day, that he rather doubted it. Having verified that the coast was clear, Harry hurried up the steps into his flat.

With a flick of his wand, Harry opened the drapes, and his rooms were flooded with light. Harry rented a small clean two bedroom flat above a butcher shop. The bay windows in his sitting room looked out over the river. The street down below was crammed bumper to bumper with traffic, and the sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians. Harry liked having all that life around him all the time, it made him feel secure, even though he wasn't really a part of it.

The sitting room was lined with bookshelves, which would normally have been full of numerous magical texts, reference books, tomes, and grimoires. But the shelves were all empty now; Harry's extensive, though rather genre specific, library was presently taking up residence inside a couple of dozen boxes scattered around the room. Harry had spent yesterday packing most of his things for the move to his new office. It hadn't taken long.

Even without the majority of his things packed into cardboard boxes, the place had always been pretty Spartan. He had moved in three months ago, and, since then, had spent very little time here. Harry had been helping the ministry track down the last of Voldemort's supporters, and had found himself traveling abroad for most of the summer. The whole operation had been very much off the book; Harry's only requirement for helping the ministry was that The Daily Prophet never knew about it. So they had flown under the radar, and, with his own team of Aurors, Harry had tracked down and captured seven death eaters: including Lucius Malfoy. The wizarding public knew only that the dark wizards in question had been caught and brought to justice; they had no idea of Harry's involvement.

Harry had to weave his way around several more boxes on his way to the master bedroom. His firebolt was in the closet, and he caught sight of himself in the mirror as he went for it. He wasn't really dressed for Quiddich: baggy jeans and a loose t-shirt.

Harry shifted the pile of clothes on the floor of his closet around until he found something more suitable. He changed into a pair of tight fitting black trousers and a tighter t-shirt. He tucked the t-shirt into his trousers and buckled his belt. Raising his arms above his head, he flexed the muscles in his shoulders and twisted his abdomen to make sure that his motion wasn't restricted at all. The fabric moved smoothly with him, and he took only a moment to strap on his Quidditch boots and head back outside.

xXxXxXxXxXx

When Harry reapparated, he was back under the apple tree surrounded by the majority of the Weasley children.

"Finally," Fred said the moment Harry appeared. "Okay, so we're playing three on three. You're with George and Charlie."

"Sirius bewitched some hoola-hoops to use as goals." George pointed up at six hoops that were bobbing gently up and down.

"We're playing with one quaffle and one bludger. No snitch, so the game's over when mum says dinner is ready. George and I will play beaters, and the rest of you can pass the quaffle and block the goals as you like."

"To Fred and I as well, of course," George added. There is no rule on who can handle the quaffle."

Fred smirked. "Just no touching our bats," he said, suggestively stroking the small club in question.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Okay, we get it. Now come on, let's fly!"

Smiling, they all mounted their brooms and shot up into the air.

George, Charlie, and Harry hovered near the right set of hoops, and Fred, Ron, and Ginny circled the left.

"OKAY SIRIUS," Fred roared. "LET 'EM RIP!"

Sirius walked to the center of their makeshift pitch grinning like a madman, he was quite good at it by now, and he first knocked the bludger into the air before throwing the quaffle up into the fray.

Rather than waiting for the quaffle to come to him, Harry put his seeker's skills to work and tucked himself into a dive. He scooped up the quaffle and pulled out of his dive less than a meter above his godfather's head.

Sirius grinned up at him in admiration, and backed away, his eyes still fixed on the players.

Harry tossed the quaffle to Charlie as he dodged a hit from the bludger. George flew back behind Harry and hit the bludger back where it had come from, straight at his twin brother. It was bad strategy, hitting the bludger at the only other player with a bat, but Fred wasn't expecting it. George put plenty of muscle behind the hit, and the bludger came up low and hard underneath Fred's brush. The bludger hit hard and spun him around on his broom. Fred didn't miss a beat though; he tore after the bludger as it spun off towards Ginny.

Meanwhile, Harry had flown into the open space right under one of the opposing goals. Charlie was still in possession of the quaffle, and he flew towards Harry with Ron close on his tail. He dodged a hit from the bludger, but ended up in a backwards somersault as his broom flipped end over end. At some point during this display of airborne acrobatics, Charlie had managed to pass the quaffle to Harry. Harry, wasting no time, threw the large red ball up over his head, easily making the goal and securing his team the first ten points of the game.

Ron flew by, cursing loudly, and caught the quaffle before it hit the ground. He stayed low as he streaked back up to the other end of the pitch.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Remus had just gotten comfortable in his lover's arms, when he suddenly found himself dislodged as Sirius jumped to his feet and began cheering loudly. Never having had a great fondness for Quiddich, Remus had been quite comfortable nestled, under one arm, against Sirius' chest, reading a muggle romance novel.

"Padfoot!" he said indignantly. But he was slightly less annoyed when he looked over and saw Severus clapping as well. It must have been a good play to get Snape's attention like that.

Severus was actually sitting in the grass against the trunk of the apple tree to watch the match, and Remus slid over on the bench so that he was sitting next to him. "What happened?" he asked.

"Potter made a goal," Severus said simply, not taking his eyes off of the players.

Remus didn't bother to try for more information than that; it was obvious that the other man was far too wrapped up in the game. He closed his book and resolved to watch the remainder of the match. Sirius was still on his feet, cheering as Ron made a goal. Remus grabbed the back of his robes and pulled the man back to the bench. If he was going to be watching Quidditch, then at least he was going to be comfortable.

The match was called to an end less than twenty minutes later, when Mrs. Weasley's voice was amplified across the yard. "ALRIGHT KIDS! TIME TO EAT!"

The players returned to the ground a bit reluctantly, but having worked up a good appetite. Harry's team had won, but not by much: seventy points to sixty.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was overjoyed to find himself sitting between Snape and Ron during dinner. Remus, Sirius, and Hermione sat across from them.

Severus could smell Harry's sweat, and he was a little enthralled by the boy's present state: all windswept and flushed. The tight trousers weren't helping matters much either. Severus found himself struggling to keep his mind on their conversation. "Have you finished your lesson plans yet?" he asked, as he purposefully reached across Harry for a dinner roll.

Harry moved the basket of rolls within reach, brushing against Severus' arm. "Nearly, there were a few revisions that I still wanted to make. I was planning on bringing them by your office tomorrow. I have most of my things packed, so I was going to start moving into my office."

Snape nodded. "You'll have to choose your quarters as well, unless you plan to floo back and forth from your flat in London."

Harry frowned; he couldn't remember telling Snape where he lived. But then, when you were Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Savior of the wizarding world, you kind of got used to people knowing things about you without having to tell them.

"I was planning on staying at the castle, at least during the week, but I didn't realize that I had a choice on my living quarters; I guess I assumed that I would be assigned some near my office."

"There are several different sets of teacher's quarters that are vacant at the moment. If you are to be living there, I see no reason why you shouldn't have your pick. I could show you around tomorrow, if you like," Severus said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Yes," Harry said, trying not to sound too eager. "I want to get settled in as soon as possible; the students will be arriving next week."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Dinner stretched out long into the evening. One positive thing that had come out of the war was the level of camaraderie that members of The Order of the Phoenix felt for one another. Now that the war was over, those bonds shone out more clearly than ever. The little stuff just really ceased to matter, and it was good just to spend the evening with people who _understood_.

As the dinner was cleared away and replaced with dessert, and dessert was replaced with a great many bottles of wine, the conversation grew louder and more boisterous. At one point Sirius and Mad Eye Moody were dancing on the table singing a song about a hedgehog to loud applause and laughter. Remus looked quite embarrassed.

The night finished off with a spectacular fireworks display from Fred and George, and, before Harry knew it, he found himself at the garden gate saying goodbye to everyone.

As everyone disapparated, he found himself once more alone with Severus.

He opened his mouth to bid farewell to Severus, fumbling in his slightly inebriated state for the right words. "You're not always a greasy git, ya know," he said finally, as though this were high praise indeed.

"Yes I am. And you're drunk," Snape said, putting out an arm to steady him.

"I am not! I'm a little tipsy is all!"

Severus smiled, "And that's why you can't control the volume of your voice then, is it?"

"I was trying to yell," Harry said in a whisper.

Severus sighed. "You shouldn't be apparating home like that. I'd better take you."

"Oh no you don't Severus. You just want me to hold on to you while we apparate. I'm not falling for that. I'm _find_ on my own!" Harry brushed him off, but then grabbed on again as he started to fall.

Severus was glad that it was dark, the last thing he needed was for Harry to see him blushing. Harry had called him Severus, and, even if he was drunk, he rather liked the sound of it coming off the boy's tongue: almost like a hiss. Never mind what Harry was accusing him of. "I don't care if you are _find_," he said sarcastically. "I'm taking you home."

"Fine," Harry said in a petulant childish voice, and he turned to embrace Severus.

Clutching the back of Harry's neck, he lost himself in the feeling of apparition as he allowed Harry to choose their destination and added his own stability to their apparition. Severus reluctantly let Harry go as they appeared in the back garden.

"You can't come in," Harry said as he stepped away, "flat's a mess."

"No need, I'm sure the savior of the wizarding world can make it up one flight of steps without my assistance."

"Goodnight," Harry said, as he walked towards the back door.

"Goodnight," Severus said, and disapparated.

As Harry crawled into bed, quite a bit more sober than he'd been letting on, he decided that the Slytherins might have something with this whole deception thing. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, the feel of Severus' arms around him lingering and making him feel safe.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I have bits and pieces of the next three chapters written already, but I'm not quite sure how I want to put them together. I'm going to be trying for some longer chapters with this fic, so I hope everyone enjoyed that.

Reviews are always well appreciated. Please let me know what worked and what didn't so that I can improve upon this story as it progresses.


	4. Well that was Easy

Author's Note: This chapter is up because KatsuyaJounouchiKaiba sent me a PM to yell at me to get my ass in gear. So yeah, kudos to her.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by Franz Ferdinand.

Give Me Life

Chapter Four

Well that was Easy

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus announced his presence by gently knocking against the wood doorframe of Harry's office. The young man in question was sitting in a small clear space in the center of the floor, surrounded by piles of boxes, with a worn grimmoire in his hand. The boxes that were open seemed to contain even more books, and other stacks of unpacked books were beginning to form along the walls as Harry sorted them by author and content.

Harry looked up at Severus' knocking, as though he'd just been caught with his hands in the cookie jar and chocolate smeared all over his face. "Oh, it's you," he said, relaxing when he saw Severus.

"Try not to sound so disappointed," Severus drawled. "I'm having a hard time believing that all of these books belong to you."

"Well, no actually." Harry stood and walked over to Severus, plucking a volume off one of the stacks as he went. He handed the book to Severus. "This one's yours."

Severus turned the slightly charred book over in his hands and flipped the cover open to verify that it was, in fact, his sixth year Potions textbook. He smiled at the arrogant inscription and closed it. He set it down on top of the box closest to him.

"You can keep it. You need all the help you can get. What's this though?" Severus plucked the grimmoire from Harry's hands.

"Oh," Harry seemed surprised as Severus took the book from him. "It was in a box of books that Sirius gave me. It belonged to my mother. Sirius must have borrowed it before…" Harry trailed off for a moment. "I was just flipping through it. She wrote all kinds of notes in the margins."

Heart beginning to beat a little harder in his chest, Severus gave the book the same treatment that he'd given his old textbook. He ran his long fingers over both sides of the worn leather cover; it was still warm from Harry's attention. When he flipped the cover open, he was greeted by his own handwriting: the words coming to mind even before he had a chance to read them. 'Happy Birthday, Lily. Enjoy your summer holiday! I figured you could use some light reading while you're stuck in France with your sister.'

He could remember debating for days whether or not he should add a, 'love Severus,' at the end of the inscription, and now he was very glad that he had not. But, judging by the look that Harry was giving him right now, the boy had recognized his handwriting without it.

Severus felt a flash of anger as he realized that the book had been in Black's possession all these years. Sure, the animosity between them had mellowed to a familiar dislike, but he was still James Potter's best friend. The thought that Lily would lend _him_ the last present that he'd ever bought her stung him. He closed the cover and handed it back to Harry.

Harry ran his own hands over the covers then. "I've never had anything of my mother's before: a few photographs are all. I like looking at her handwriting. It looks like mine, you know?"

Severus did know. He'd noticed the very first time he'd unrolled one of Harry's Potions scrolls. He felt all of his anger melt away. Suddenly, he was glad that Black had the book for all these years, if it meant that it had been saved from the fire and given Harry this link to his mother: and, vicariously, to Severus himself.

Severus felt a pang of regret then as he looked at the boy. Harry looked too much like his father, and, because of it, Severus had been quick to judge him. He didn't even give the boy a chance. Harry had inherited Severus' hate for James when he had inherited his father's frame and features. Yet he was so much like his mother sometimes that Severus could hardly stand it. But, that wasn't all that Harry was. A lifetime of experience fighting against insurmountable odds and suffering through adversity had made Harry his own person. Severus just wished that it hadn't taken a war for him to recognize Harry's good qualities.

He handed the book back to Harry. "Have you given any thought to where you would like your quarters to be?" he asked, gesturing for Harry to precede him out into the hall.

"Something secluded," Harry answered. "I've come to value my privacy."

"Publicity turned sour, Potter?"

Harry shrugged. He'd never enjoyed the publicity, but it didn't seem as though he would ever be able to convince Severus of the fact. "I prefer to be a little harder to find these days."

"Right, well, my old rooms in the dungeons are free. Would that suit?"

Harry rather liked the idea of inhabiting Snape's old rooms, and he was sorely tempted to say yes, but the idea of living underground for any extended period of time turned his stomach. "No," he said, after taking a moment to consider it. "I prefer to see the light of day. If I spent half my time in the dungeon I think I would turn into a zombie."

"You do realize that darkness does not actually cause one to turn into a zombie."

"Yes Snape, I realize that."

"Just checking," Severus said. "If the dungeons aren't to your liking, perhaps something in the Charms Corridor… would that suit?"

"Let's take a look."

They walked at a leisurely pace. Occasionally, Severus would point out some portrait or statue that had an interesting history. Hermione would have loved it, but Harry was starting to get bored with the constant tour guide commentary. More than once, he caught himself watching Severus' lips move without actually listening to what he was saying.

They had gone past every doorway in the Charms corridor when Severus stopped before a large grandfather clock. He flicked his wand at the face, and the hands wound up to twelve. The clock door creaked open, and the pendulum swung away to make room for them to walk through.

Harry stepped through first. There was a short stone passage, and, when Harry could walk upright again, he was in a very round very blue room.

"We're in the base of one of the staircases," Severus informed, as he came to a stop next to Harry. "These rooms don't even show up on the floor plans of the castle. They're a little small, but certainly secluded enough."

The rooms were quite nice really. Plush carpets and soft couches lined the room. The fireplace was adjacent to the door, and Harry imagined that with a fire crackling in the hearth the place would be very cozy. The fireplace's little grate was a delicate creation of intricate ironwork. The room had two doors: one led to the bedroom- cozy, but far too floral for Harry's liking- and the other led to the bathroom – clawfoot tub, lots of white porcelain.

"Final verdict?" Severus asked, once Harry had looked the place over.

It was nice and, though small, hardly a cupboard, but Harry didn't much fancy the idea of being back under the stairs: not now that he had the option not to be.

"It's a little too blue for my tastes," he said finally. He didn't want to give the real reason and consequently be compelled to explain things that he really didn't want to get into: especially not with Snape.

Severus shrugged and, with a flick of his wand, changed the carpet, drapes, and numerous sofas a deep emerald green.

Harry turned to him and gave him a droll dejected look accompanied with a roll of his eyes. "What else do you have?"

"You mean something in the line of scarlet, I suppose?"

"I mean something in the line of different rooms. This place is going to give me nightmares now."

"Picky, Potter. There's another set near the library that might be more to your taste."

xXxXxXxXxXx

And, they definitely were. The rooms were much larger with high vaulted ceilings. The fireplace was massive and crackling. The furniture was worn and lived in. Harry looked around at the mostly empty rooms and imagined his things occupying the shelves and corners. The bed was a large oak curtained affair big enough to sleep five people. Harry took a second to imagine a certain someone sprawled spent against the pillows.

Yes, this would do quite nicely. There was a single draw back; the rooms were located above the library high up in the astronomy tower: a good fifteen minutes walk away from his office.

"I like it, a lot actually, but it's kind of far away from my office," Harry said finally.

Severus rolled his eyes. "That is what floo powder is for."

Harry had considered this already. He did like the rooms quite a lot, but the sensation of travelling by floo powder was something that he had never quite been able to get used to, and he didn't much care for the idea of walking around perpetually covered in soot.

"It's an option," he said, "but you said that there were more rooms available?"

Severus had to hide his happiness; he thought he'd lost there for a minute.

"The last set is a little closer to your office, but it's not as spacious, and it doesn't have the same security precautions." Severus said apathetically; he didn't want to sell it too hard.

"Let's have a look anyway."

Severus had to turn to hide the smile that was threatening to invade his face. "Quickly then, I have things to attend to." That being said, Severus took off at a brisk pace, being sure to take the long way. He wanted the illusion that he was in a hurry, but he was keen to spend as much time with Harry as possible.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was surprised several minutes later, when they turned down a hall and started walking toward a very familiar stone gargoyle. Severus stopped halfway down the hallway in front of a portrait of a very frazzled happy looking wizard with a monocle.

Severus made no mention of how close these rooms were to his own, and Harry made the assumption that this was why Severus seemed reluctant to bring him here. And with good reason, since it really didn't matter what the rooms on the other side of the portrait looked like; Harry would take them anyway. After all, as any estate agent will tell you, it's all about _location, location, location_.

"Good morning, Bertram," Severus said, addressing the portrait.

"Good morning, headmaster."

"Could you let us in to have a look around?"

Bertram peered over Severus' shoulder at Harry. "Is that Potter?"

"Unfortunately."

"Ah, I see," he said, frowning for a moment. "Well, jolly good, jolly good." He gave them a nod, and the portrait swung aside to let them in.

"What, no password?" Harry asked.

"I'm the headmaster; I don't need a password."

"You can just come in whenever you want, then?"

"That's right Potter."

"But, if I decide to move in…"

"The password is soupy twist, but it's subject to change."

Harry frowned. "Wouldn't I have to change it?"

"Generally, but Bertram has some… issues."

"What?"

Severus feigned exasperation. "Just look around."

The portrait had opened into a large room with polished wood floors. They looked like cherry, not that Harry knew anything about wood. There was a large brown leather sofa in front of the fireplace. A few bookshelves lined one wall, and a row of long windows overlooked the Quidditch pitch and the edge of the forest.

The bathroom had a bath as well as a shower, both of which looked brand new. The cool granite tiles of the bathroom made way to plush carpet, as Harry opened a side door and stepped foot into the bedroom. The bed was similar to the one that had been in his dormitory, but a little larger. The hangings were even the right color, but the red was perhaps a shade darker than his house colors and the gold a little more muted. The walls in the bedroom were made of dark stained oak paneling, rather than the plain stone of the antechamber. Twin tables sat on either side of the bed. Two windows above let in just the right amount of light.

Another pass through the main room revealed a second bedroom- this one done up in plain black- and a small kitchen. Now that he wasn't being forced to cook meals for the muggles like some kind of indentured servant, Harry found that he quite liked cooking. He looked forward to having some time to experiment with magical methods of cooking; his flat only had a muggle stove.

When Harry returned from the kitchen, Severus was gone from the room. It took him a while to see him on the balcony, and Harry took a moment to enjoy the view before joining him.

Severus was framed in the window with his back to Harry. His robes fluttered slightly in the wind, and he was at just enough of an angle to make out the profile of his nose and the curve of his lips.

Harry slid the door open and stepped out onto the balcony as quietly as he could.

"What do you think?" Severus asked, as Harry came to stand next to him. He tried to keep the anticipation out of his voice. Never mind that he'd spent the better part of two days decorating the rooms to the boy's liking. Those rooms in the astronomy tower were too nice, he should have brought Harry somewhere dark and rat infested in the dungeons. And he was still sitting on his ace in the hole. Almost seven hours of charms work, and he was too bloody shy to show it to the boy. He didn't want to seem as though he was coercing Harry to keep him close.

That wouldn't do. This was supposed to be a strictly covert operation. The boy was never to know of his true intentions. _And what were those?_ Some tawdry desire to possess the boy? No, nothing so mundane. The clear logical part of Severus' mind knew that could never happen. But a deeper part of his mind, a part that had been long out of use, said that it _was_ possible. That his feelings weren't wrong or tawdry. That nothing could be so pure, and that if he could only convince Harry…

Severus quickly quashed these ideas.

It would have to be enough to know that Harry was close and that he was safe. Severus had erected a battery of shielding charms and wards around the rooms, and nothing was getting in without him knowing about it. But first, Harry would have to agree to live here. After all that work, the rooms had better meet with his satisfaction. Severus was about to reveal the product of all that silly wandwork and seal the deal, when Harry's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"This will be perfect."

_Four little words to make his day._ Severus let out an audible sigh of relief. He quickly covered it with a cough, and made a motion of tucking his hair behind his ear to hide the look of relief on his face.

"I suppose you should see this then," he said, trying to sound as disinterested as possible, but he was covertly watching Harry out of the corner of his eye.

He took out his wand with a slight dramatic flourish; he just couldn't help it. He tapped his wand three times on the single white brick in the stonework and watched in delight as Harry's eyes widened.

The brickwork had realigned to create a platform extending out from the balcony. A landing platform, to be precise, and Harry recognized it for what it was immediately.

"So I won't have to go downstairs or up to the astronomy tower when I want a fly! This is awesome!"

Severus didn't bother to hide his smile. "A minor convenience, but one I was sure that you could appreciate."

"Hell yeah!"

Severus raised a brow, and the boy flushed.

"Well, yes,… I mean, …it's nice to have," he mumbled.

Severus rather liked the boy all red and mumbling. Perhaps he should attempt to instigate such reactions more often. If all it took was getting the boy to curse, it should be easy enough.

"Right, well, I have work to do. You can start moving your things in straight away." Severus went back into the main room. "Just one more thing," he said, pausing at the door. "If Bertram starts to act strange, just go along with it. He can get a little crazy sometimes."

"Crazy?"

"I believe the word the muggles use is schizophrenic." Severus said, before disappearing out the door.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It took Harry all afternoon to move into his new digs. Even with the help of magic, it took a few trips to move all of his things from the old apartment and a couple more trips to his classroom to get the books that he wanted to keep in his private collection. Then he spent several hours unpacking everything and moving it around until he had things were he wanted them.

By the time he was finished, Harry was dripping with sweat, but feeling quite pleased with himself. The sun was just starting to set over the tree line. If he hurried, Harry figured he had enough time for a quick flight before it got dark.

Harry grabbed his broom off the couch and pulled his shirt back on as he made his way out to the balcony. He took a running leap off the flight deck and pulled out into a tight spiral as he flew off toward the Quidditch pitch.

The night air felt wonderfully refreshing against his hot skin. He wove back and forth between the goal posts in wide lazy arcs and thought about his first class, now a mere five days away. He was terrified which, considering the things he had experienced in his short lifetime, was probably saying something.

He was just about to turn in for the night, when a flash of white in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Turning on his broom, to see what it was, he just had enough time to swerve out of the way as a second flyer soared past him.

The second flyer brought his broom to a halt and hovered over Harry's head, grinning.

"Hey Potter," Draco Malfoy said nonchalantly.

"What the..." Harry started, but that was as far as he got, because Draco took off towards the forest.

"Just try and catch me Potter!" he yelled back over his shoulder.

Well, Harry wasn't one to back off from a challenge. He bent low over his broom and flew after Draco as fast as his Firebolt would allow.

The Firebolt easily outstripped Draco's Nimbus 2001, but Draco made abrupt turns around trees and swerved across the lake to avoid Harry. It was working too, Harry almost hit a tree as Draco made his second tour through the forest. Draco probably could have kept Harry on the ropes for much longer, but suddenly his broom gave a sharp jolt and unseated him.

"Whoa!" Harry yelled, as he decelerated and landed on the grass next to Draco. "You okay Malfoy?"

"Yeah," Draco mumbled, rubbing his backside as Harry gave him a hand to pull him to his feet.

"What are you doing here?"

"I work here Potter."

"What?" Harry stared at him like he'd just grown a second head.

"I'm the new flight instructor. I was cleaning out the storage room in the field office when I saw you flying on the pitch, and I thought I'd give you more of a challenge. Guess I shouldn't have gone so sharp on that last turn. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts. I was just getting moved in, and I thought I would go for a quick flight to cool off." Harry explained.

"You work here? Oh, that's just great," Draco grumbled.

"It's going to be a pleasure working with you too," Harry said sarcastically. "What happened back there with your broom anyway? It looked like it tried to buck you off."

"Stupid thing keeps doing that whenever I take a turn too sharp," Draco said, retrieving it from where it had wedged itself between two tree branches. "It needs a complete overhaul, but, you know, I'm a bit strapped for cash these days."

Harry looked away guiltily. He was mostly to blame for Draco's recent destitution. Not to mention, he was the one that had put Draco's father behind bars. "Listen, Malfoy, I…"

Draco cringed at the sound of his surname. "Call me Draco." He cringed again. "On second thought, no, don't."

Harry looked back at Draco. "I'm sorry." Harry said. "About your dad, I mean. I wish it didn't have to happen that way."

Draco shook his head as they walked toward the castle together. "It's not your fault. No hard feelings."

"He's still your dad. I'm sorry it had to happen."

"I'm not," Draco said, suddenly bitter. "I know that you can't understand this Potter, but I'd rather be poor and on my own than rich and under my father's thumb."

This sentiment, especially coming from The Slytherin Prince, took Harry by surprise. "Do you really mean that?"

Draco sighed. "Listen, Potter, I don't want to talk about it. I just want to live my life."

Harry fell silent.

The silence stayed heavy in the air as they walked back to the castle together. Harry stayed with Draco instead of flying back up to his room; he still felt like he should say something, but he didn't know what. He still hadn't thought of anything when they reached the grand staircase.

"I'm in the dungeons," Draco said, gesturing off down the stairs.

Harry gestured up in the opposite direction. "I'm up on the third floor." He paused, trying to think of something meaningful to say. He wanted to let Draco know that he really was sorry for the way things had turned out without making it sound as though he was patronizing him. Now that the war was over, all of their petty squabbles seemed so pointless. "Do you want to come up for a drink? I have a bottle of brandy."

Draco snorted. "No thanks Potter."

Harry flushed. "I didn't mean…"

Draco snorted again "Look, no offense Potter, but you seriously need a bath. You kind of stink." He offered his hand and ventured a small smile. "Really though, no hard feelings, still rivals?" he asked

Harry shook it, matching Draco's smile. "Still rivals."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Hit the button, tell me you love me.

Constructive criticism is also appreciated.


	5. A Hard Day's Night

Author's Note: Two days in a row, check that! Right, so, there's not a whole lot going on in this chapter. I might combine it with the last one later.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by The Beatles.

Give Me Life

Chapter Five

A Hard Day's Night

xXxXxXxXxXx

By the time Harry had trudged up to the third floor, all he wanted was to collapse on his bed and sleep until the start of term. Every muscle in his body ached. The race with Malfoy had been a bad idea after spending all afternoon moving heavy books and furniture. He needed to learn to rely on his wand more when it came to manual labor, but living with muggles for most of his life had caused him to just instinctually use brute force to move things around.

"Soupy Twist," Harry said as he reached the portrait. He lifted his broom up so that the bristles weren't brushing against the floor.

"Soupy what?"

"Hunh," Harry looked up, and he had to shake himself awake. He couldn't even find the right room. He turned to go to the next portrait down, but he was already at the end of the hall. He turned around; there was Severus' gargoyle right behind him. This was definitely the right portrait. And then he remembered what Severus had said to him earlier.

Schizophrenic hunh?

"I'm Harry Potter," he said, turning to face the portrait. A subtle change had occurred. Bertram looked older, the monocle was gone, his hair was mussed, and he had stubble.

"Yes, I'm not blind."

"Oh," Harry scratched at the scar on his forehead. "Well, I moved in this afternoon, so if you could let me in that would be good. I'm kind of tired."

"No."

"What?"

"Take your pick. No, you can't come in. No you don't live here. No, I will not go with you to the Yule ball, just no."

"What?"

"You're not especially bright are you?"

Harry groaned. This was just great. He leaned against the wall and slid down it into a seated position on the cold stone floor. Just _great_. He couldn't go back to his old flat to sleep because all of his bedding was here. But, it didn't look as though he was going to be let in anytime soon. There was a sofa in his office, but it was hard and lumpy, and, tired as he was, Harry wasn't sure that it was worth the walk.

Harry had just about resolved to sleep there against the wall until Bertram was feeling more like his usual amiable self, when the gargoyle sitting across from him gave him an idea.

The headmaster didn't need a password.

Harry got to his feet and walked over to the gargoyle, wondering how irate Severus would be if Harry woke him up to tell him he was locked out. Maybe if Harry tried to look extra pathetic Severus would laugh at him instead of cursing him into oblivion.

Harry was about to start trying sweets when it occurred to him that Severus' password wouldn't be pumpkin cake or chocolate frog. "Um, eye of newt," Harry tried hopefully.

The gargoyle didn't move.

"Boomslang skin?"

Wouldn't budge.

"Dragon scales?"

Not an inch.

"Asphodel?"

Nope.

"Wormwood?"

Not that either.

"Bezoar?"

Shit.

"Amortentia?" Harry tried doubtfully.

Didn't think so.

This wasn't getting him anywhere. Harry racked his brains. What would Snape's password be? Something clever of course. A play on words probably. Hermione would've been able to figure it out. A password is for security,… and Severus used to be a spy, …so it must be something to do with….

"Damn it. Come on, think Potter! Don't be an idiot," he berated himself.

The gargoyle moved obligingly out of the way.

"Oh seriously!" Harry yelled at it. "I know he hates me, but, 'Potter, don't be an idiot?' this is ridiculous."

The statue didn't react.

Harry sighed, and started walking down the stairs. He tried to think of something to say. He hadn't had much luck with that earlier in the night, and it seemed to be becoming a trend. He had been hoping that Severus would be awake and working at his desk when he reached the bottom of the stairs, but he wasn't. Harry looked around the office in hopes of some sign as to what his next move should be.

"Good evening Harry," a familiar voice greeted, as if answering his plea for guidance. And why not? If there was ever anyone to give him guidance it was Albus Dumbledore. "What's wrong?"

"I got locked out of my rooms. My portrait is a little insane." Harry explained.

"Oh dear," Dumbledore said. "I take it that you've moved in next door then?"

"Yes." Fawkes seemed to have finally noticed his presence, and came over to greet his favorite Gryffindor. Harry allowed the bird to land on his arm, and stroked his bright plumage.

"I'm so glad you're giving him some attention. He doesn't seem to like Severus much." Dumbledore beamed at him fondly, and it occurred to Harry just how odd this was: talking to his dead mentor in a picture frame. "Bertram can be a bit difficult," Dumbledore continued. "I'll just drop in and have a quick word with him. Have a seat Harry; I'll just be a minute. I think Severus keeps some chocolates in that little silver box on the desk. Help yourself," and with that Dumbledore's frame was left empty.

Harry took a seat in one of the chairs before the desk, and took a chocolate from the box. Eating his sweet and stroking Fawkes, it occurred to Harry that some things never changed. It was kind of comforting really.

His silent philosophizing was cut short though, as Severus entered his office to see what all the commotion was about. "What's going on in…Potter! What the hell are you doing here?" Severus pulled his dressing robe tighter around his lanky frame. "Are you eating my chocolates?"

"Dumbledore told me to," Harry hastened to accuse, pointing at his empty portrait.

Severus rolled his eyes. Albus seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he was no longer alive and that this was no longer his office. More than once, he'd entered his office to find Albus' portrait having a meeting with someone from the ministry or a foreign wizard.

"What are you doing here Potter?" he asked, sitting down behind his desk. He felt horribly exposed in his pajamas and dressing gown; not that much of his skin was exposed, but he just didn't feel very imposing or dignified in plaid pajamas and a terry dressing gown. If Potter was planning on dropping by in the middle of the night like this on a frequent basis, then he was going to have to go buy some nicer pajamas.

"My portrait is crazy, remember? He won't let me in." Harry shrugged. "He doesn't seem to like me very much now that he's taken leave of his senses."

"Oh yes, well, he'd obviously need to be crazy not to like you," Severus said sarcastically.

"Clearly," Harry agreed.

"It must be a truly wonderful thing to live in your delusional little world, Potter."

"Not really," Harry said, suddenly serious.

"No," Severus agreed. "Maybe not."

"But then, yours can't be much better."

"I have my days, Potter."

Harry nodded. "You didn't tell me that you hired Malfoy."

That took Severus by surprise. He hadn't really thought about Draco in a few weeks, but he should have expected some kind of confrontation when the two men finally ran into each other. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No," Harry said. "I don't think so. He doesn't seem to have any hard feelings. I did save his life after all."

"And you put his father in Azkaban," Severus added.

"He said that he didn't hold it against me. I think he meant it, though I don't see how that is possible."

Severus frowned. "A life debt is a peculiar thing. It makes a person do all sorts of strange things."

"Yeah, you hired me, right?" Harry joked.

That hadn't exactly been what Severus had in mind when he'd said it. He was thinking more along the lines of his life debt to James Potter; it was a better analogy for the way Draco felt about Harry. But, now that Harry mentioned it, Severus supposed he did owe Harry quite a lot in his own right. He only wished that that had been his only motivation for hiring the boy.

"You're going to have to talk to him, Severus," Dumbledore said as he moved back into his portrait. "He won't listen to me. He said I wasn't the headmaster anymore, and he didn't have to do what I say."

Severus turned in his chair to look at his predecessor. "It had to be said sooner or later old man."

"Bicker with Harry," Dumbledore retorted. "Don't start with me Severus Snape. Especially since the only reason I'm not headmaster anymore is because you killed me."

"Only because you told me to!"

"Nope!" Harry cut in. "Can't use that one! You already yelled at me for eating your chocolates."

"Oh Severus," Dumbledore said in disappointment. "You always were such a selfish child; you must learn to share."

Severus threw his arms in the air in a gesture of frustration. "Come on Harry." He rose to his feet. "It's time for bed."

Severus hadn't even noticed his slipup or the intimacy of his last statement, but Harry certainly hadn't missed it. He racked his brain for any time that Snape had used his first name, but he came up blank. He took some time to revel in the bliss of the moment.

"Are you coming Potter?" Severus asked from the stairs.

"Oh yes," Harry agreed. He set Fawkes down on his perch and followed Severus out into the hall.

When Harry made it up the stairs, Severus was already talking to the portrait.

"You need to let Mr. Potter in whenever he forgets the password so that he doesn't bother me in the middle of the night."

"I don't see what the point of having a password is, if no one ever plans on using it," the portrait grumbled.

"I'm not going to argue with you Gregory. You can ignore Albus all you want, but you don't have that luxury with me."

"That doesn't mean that I have to listen to Potter."

"Just let him in."

"I can't possibly do that. Without a password, there's no way to prove that it is Potter. It could be someone else under a polyjuice potion."

Severus groaned. "Fine, if someone that you suspect is not Potter is trying to get into his rooms, then you can come get me and I will give you clearance to let him in."

"How can I be sure that you are really you?"

"Because if you wake me up in the middle of the night to let Potter in, I'll lock you in a broom closet and lose the key."

"Fair enough," Gregory allowed.

Severus put a hand on Harry's shoulder and pulled him forward. "This is Harry Potter, and you will clear all password changes with him before you make them."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"Harry, this is Gregory. He can be somewhat more abrasive than his counterpart, but I'm sure you're up to the challenge.

"I doubt it," Gregory sneered, but the portrait began to swing open to let him in.

Severus cleared his throat. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

The portrait swung closed again. "No."

"Mr. Potter's password…?"

"I didn't change it," Gregory defended.

Severus cleared his throat.

"Necrotizing fasciitis," Gregory grumbled.

"Oh, come on," Harry moaned. "I'm never going to remember that."

"That's the idea," Gregory smirked.

"Why?"

"You can't possibly imagine how boring it is being a portrait. I get my fun where I can."

Severus patted Harry on the shoulder. "I'm afraid that's about as agreeable as he gets," Severus said.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Harry asked, as the portrait swung open all the way to admit him.

"Be in before nine and you won't have to deal with him."

"What?"

"Bertram and Gregory have a time share. Nine o'clock at night until nine in the morning you have Gregory to deal with. The rest of the time Bertram has control. So, as long as you're in by nine, you won't have much of a problem."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, there's no way that's happening."

"Then get used to remembering the ridiculous passwords."

"Or you can get used to being woken by a portrait in the middle of the night to let me in when I forget the ridiculous passwords."

Severus gave him a doubtful look. "Goodnight Mr. Potter," Severus said, going back to his own rooms.

Harry started laughing as his portrait swung closed behind him. Snape was certainly going to be an interesting neighbor.

xXxXxXxXxXx

After that Severus was having a difficult time falling asleep. Something was niggling at the back of his mind, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He was obviously missing something, but he was either too tired or too thick to figure out what it was.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

His password! To get into his office, Potter would have had to figure out what his password was. So stupid! How could he have been so careless? What was he even thinking? Clearly he hadn't been thinking. He'd changed it to "Potter" after that damnable barbeque. He'd obviously had far too much to drink. _So careless._ But how had it even occurred to Harry to try his own name as a password?

Severus groaned. What was he going to do?

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was in a daze. He stood in the shower, letting the warm water flow over him. It was wonderfully relaxing.

It seemed that every time he closed his eyes now he was met with Severus' image glaring back at him. He tried to determine what it was about the man that he found so intriguing. It was an exercise he was familiar with. Ever since he had first had these feelings, he had been trying to justify them. It took him a long time to admit, even to himself, that he was attracted to Severus Snape of all people. And once he had admitted it to himself, he had desperately tried to make the feeling go away.

He had tried to think of all the things that he hated about Snape: how he had made Harry's life miserable from day one, how he had almost gotten Sirius sent back to Azkaban- or worse, seen that he receive the dementor's kiss, not to mention all the horrible things he must have done during his time as a death eater. But, every time Harry considered these actions, he considered the reasons behind them. He considered all the sacrifices Severus must have made as a spy; Merlin knew how many times the man had experienced the cruciatis curse. He had tried to turn Sirius in, but only because he thought Sirius had betrayed Harry's parents. Well, maybe Snape would have turned him in even if he did think the man was innocent, but it's not like Sirius wouldn't have deserved it. Sirius had done some pretty horrible things to Severus as they were growing up, fortunately the men seemed to have put all that behind them.

When thinking about all of these things hadn't diminished his attraction to Snape, Harry tried his level best to convince his libido of just how unattractive his professor was. Snape was old enough to be his father, for Merlin's sake! He wasn't particularly attractive. No one would say that Severus Snape was a handsome man. His complexion far too pale, and his hair was lank and greasy. Harry couldn't really speculate about his body; it was always hidden under so many layers of clothing- cold in the dungeon, but it wasn't as though Snape took the time to work out. But, sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts and watching Severus lecture all of these considerations were for naught. Severus' velvety voice infiltrated Harry's subconscious like a disease. It was too late; he was taken in. While not classically handsome, there was definitely something very appealing about Snape's profile. His hooked nose, something most would see as his greatest imperfection, only added to his features in Harry's opinion; it made him look distinguished. And his hands! My god, the man's hands were perfect: lily white and so smooth. Harry would lay awake in his dorm room just imagining the man's hands roaming over his body.

He told himself that all of these ridiculous fantasies were never going to lead to anything. He told himself that it didn't matter why he liked Snape because Snape hated him. He told himself that he only lusted after Snape because he was the only one that didn't see him as some kind of hero. He told himself that it was just some masochistic fascination for what he couldn't have. He told himself that it would all pass with time.

But it didn't.

Here he was three years later with his hand on his cock and Severus' onyx eyes smoldering in his mind.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The next morning Harry woke early and went down to the great hall for breakfast. He would have cooked himself breakfast in his quarters, but he hadn't bought groceries yet.

He wished Gregory a good morning as he left his rooms. It seemed that Snape had been right about the time share arrangement. It wasn't yet eight o'clock, and his portrait was just as annoying and misanthropic as he had been the night before.

The halls were eerily quiet as he made his way down to breakfast. He looked forward to when the students would arrive, if only to bring some life to the castle.

The Great Hall was completely empty. Harry took a seat at the end of the head table and dug into the eggs and bacon that had been laid out for him. He was halfway through his breakfast and an article on the Quidditch World Cup in The Daily Prophet before anyone joined him.

"Morning Potter," Draco Malfoy said, sitting down across from Harry and helping himself to some orange juice. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not bad," Harry said, setting his paper down. "You kind of wore me out with that race through the forest last night. You?"

"Not too bad." Draco took a swig of his juice and began piling flapjacks on his plate. "The students will be here in a couple of days though; I guess I'm starting to get nervous."

"Do you have your lesson plans all made out?"

"Yeah, do you?"

"No," Harry snorted. "Guess how I'll be spending the afternoon?"

"That bad?"

"No, I'm mostly done. I just have to decide what I'm going to cover the first day. I know where I want to go, and how I want to get there, but I don't know where to begin."

Draco shrugged. "I can't help you much there. Most of my classes start with, 'say UP!'"

Harry laughed. "I don't think anyone's going to fight off dark forces with that."

"No." Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "My bum is just one huge bruise at this point. I think I'm going to have to splurge and take my broom in after all. I can hardly teach a class if I can't stay on my broom."

"I have a broom repair kit you can borrow," Harry offered. "It has a book of repair charms and a set of clippers and things; if it's just a simple problem maybe you can fix it yourself."

"Thanks, might save me some gold."

"Sure, no problem, stop by my office and I'll get it for you." Harry finished off his breakfast and stood from the table. "I guess I'll go take another whack at those lesson plans."

"Hey, Potter."

"Yeah?"

"Start with what you know. You've had plenty of experience. The students will respect that. So just be honest with them; start with what you know."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "maybe I will."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: It's the bluish button at the bottom.


	6. I Guess I Planted

Author's Note: This is another shorter one, but there are some kind of interesting things going on. It might be a week or so before my next update, because I have to work the rest of the week and then I have finals.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Thanks to Billy Bragg for the chapter title.

Give Me Life

Chapter Six

I Guess I Planted

xXxXxXxXxXx

It was the Saturday before term started. Harry had taken to going on long walks round the lake most mornings after breakfast, and he was just heading back up to his classroom after his walk when he ran into Severus.

"Morning Potter," Snape said, falling into step next to him. "Do you have your lesson plans made out?"

"Yeah, I tried to drop them off for you yesterday, but you were out."

"I had to go to The Ministry."

"They're in my office," Harry said. "I'll just run and grab them now if you want. I can drop them by your office in a few minutes?"

"If you're on your way there now, I can accompany you," Severus offered.

"Perfect," Harry agreed. They fell silent as they hit the stairs, only resuming conversation when they were on the second floor.

"The start of term faculty party is in the faculty lounge tonight." Severus said.

"What time is that?"

"Nine o'clock."

Harry groaned. "I'll have to break curfew."

Severus smirked. "Are you still having trouble with your portrait?"

"Yes. It's bad enough that I have to remember two passwords in the first place, but whenever I get them mixed up Gregory refuses to let me in because I didn't give him the right password the first time. Not to mention that he's never in his frame anyway. It's gotten to the point where I just floo in from my office."

"How about I walk you back to your room after the party," Severus offered. "If The Order barbeque last week was any indication, you might need help getting there anyway."

Harry cringed inwardly. "I don't usually drink that much." It occurred to Harry how strange it would be to see all of his old professors getting drunk. The way Severus talked about it, this sounded like a common enough event. Harry wondered if the staff always boozed up the night before the students arrived. This idea gave him the sudden desire to see Severus drunk. Would the man loosen up with a little alcohol?

They reached Harry's office then, and Harry led the way in. Severus looked around at the classroom and let out a small noise of surprise.

"I like what you've done with the place," he said.

"Hunh?" Harry looked up from where he was shuffling through the papers on his desk and made a scan of the room. "Oh yeah, after the war a lot of people sent me stuff; some of it was kind of educational, so I put it in here. I thought the students might think it was interesting."

All of Harry's books were shelved in cabinets behind Harry's desk. Other shelves and tables around the room housed dark magic detection devices and other curious keepsakes from Harry's numerous adventures.

Severus walked around picking things up and looking at them as Harry took his time gathering the lesson plans that the headmaster still needed to sign off on.

"I'm still surprised that you wanted this job," Severus commented, examining a small framed map. "You seem to be suited to it though."

Harry hadn't been paying too much attention to Severus. He was too busy working on a plan to get Severus alone and drunk to pay much attention to the man himself; now that the idea had struck him he couldn't seem to shake it. "What would you have expected?" Harry finally asked, as he cast back for what Snape was talking about.

"I would have expected you to start training as an Auror with Weasley if I had been expected to hazard a guess. Isn't that what you wanted to do when you were in school?"

"Yeah, I considered it, but, in case you hadn't noticed, The Ministry and I don't exactly see eye to eye." _Maybe Harry could get Snape to accompany him to Hogsmede for a drink._

"No, I suppose not." Severus picked up an amber amulet that shone purple as it touched his skin. He set it down again quickly.

"Besides," Harry continued. "I meant what I said before. Hogwarts is home; this is where I belong. I'm tired of chasing down dark wizards over half the planet. Lucius Malfoy was the last. I spent a month sleeping in a tent on four different continents before we finally caught up with him. So, I decided that I was done fighting evil for a while. I figured a few years of retirement would do me some good. So I took a flat in muggle London and tried to stay as far away from The Ministry of Magic and The Daily Prophet as I could. But, after a couple of weeks, the novelty of not having anything particularly pressing on my time wore off, and I realized that I wasn't going to be happy just surrounding myself with muggles and living off my parent's gold.

"The only two things that I've ever been good at are playing Quidditch and fighting off dark wizards, and making my living by flying around on a broomstick looking for a golden ball, while fun, just seemed kind of trivial. All the things I really wanted were here." Harry left out that one of those things in question was the man he was currently talking to. "So, I figured, why the hell not? You probably needed a Defense teacher, and I am rather uniquely suited for the position. I never dreamed that you would give me the job, but that wasn't about to stop me from trying."

"Indeed," Severus smirked. "When did flat out rejection ever deter a Gryffindor from anything?

_Except when it came to dating, then the very possibility of rejection seemed to be enough to dissuade him, _Harry thought, but didn't say. "Here's those lesson plans," Harry extended a pile of papers to Severus, and watched as he flipped through them. _Just ask him to go out for a drink. That's not weird. Muggles go out for drinks with their bosses all the time. It was considered a positive career move._

"These look fine, Potter," Severus said, handing them back.

"You hardly even looked at them," Harry accused.

"The work load is a little light, but not too light. The subject content is appropriate. These will be fine, Potter."

Harry was aghast, after he'd put all of that work into his lesson plans, Severus barely even glanced at them! Severus didn't even seem to notice how upset Harry was. He was picking up the trinkets and objects that sat on Harry's desk one by one. _Just ask him out for a drink,_ Harry berated himself. _It's not even a date. It's just a drink between two colleagues. He's your boss, you fought a war together, and you saved his life for Merlin's sake. There is no reason why you can't ask him out for a drink. _

Severus was inspecting the sneakoscope on Harry's desk. "This is very well made Potter."

"I'm doing a unit on dark magic detection and protection devices for my N.E.W.T. classes." _Just ask him Harry._ "I thought it would be a good idea to start the year with something simple: ease them into things. If you'd taken the time to actually look at my lesson plans you would know that." _What was he saying?_ "Ron bought it for me when he was in Egypt four or five years ago," Harry continued quickly, hoping that Severus would overlook his earlier comment. _If I survive the first week of classes, do you want to celebrate with a drink in The Three Broomsticks? Nothing to it._ "Yeah, Ron's family won all that money from The Daily Prophet the summer before our third year, so they went to Egypt to visit his brother Bill. He bought the sneakoscope for me for my birthday, but Percy thought it was broken because it kept going off all the time. Of course, Peter Pettigrew was still posing himself as Ron's rat Scabbers at the time, so it wasn't really broken…" Harry trailed off and scrunched his eyes closed. _What was he prattling on about? Just ask him already._

"Are you all right? You look…" Severus wanted to say constipated, but somehow didn't think that would go over too well.

"Yes, fine." _Idiot, Potter._

"Well, you'll have your hands full with this lot. They've had so many different Defense teachers; it's a wonder that they know which end of their wand the spells are supposed to come out of."

That bothered Harry enough for him to momentarily forget his scheme to get Snape drunk. He had taught many of his seventh year students himself in the DA, and he had the greatest confidence in them. "That's not true!"

"Yes it is. Those students wouldn't know a structured Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum if it stared them in the face. Whatever you've come up with will be an improvement. I mean, that year with Umbridge they didn't even get to use their wands."

"Half of my N.E.W.T. students were in the DA with me that year, Sev, and all of them fought alongside us in the war. I don't know what better training there is! Actual experiences beat out a structured curriculum any day of the week. I'd much rather that my students graduate knowing how to defend themselves, than with perfect test scores!" Harry was vaguely aware that he was yelling at his boss, whom, moments before, he had been trying to pursue a more intimate relationship with, and he stopped.

"Sev?" Snape asked, arching one eyebrow.

Harry flushed and stared down at the top of his desk sheepishly. _How had he let that slip out? When did he start referring to Snape as Sev anyway? _He blamed Draco, he'd been spending too much time with that Slytherin git. The stupid nickname must have rubbed off. "I really hate you sometimes, you know," he said, finally looking back up.

"Only some of the time? I must be losing my touch." Severus smirked at him. "Anyway you needn't be so fervent about it. I wholeheartedly agree with you. The students are better off knowing how to protect themselves. I'm just saying that you're going to have your work cut out for you if you want those perfect test scores as well." He scanned the boy over again, and then turned to leave. "See you at dinner, Potter."

"Damn," Harry let slip the moment Severus was out of earshot. "I am such an idiot!"

But his personal berating was cut off by slow melodramatic clapping, and he turned to see Draco Malfoy coming down the steps from Harry's office. "Nicely done, Potter!"

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?"

"I came to borrow your broom kit, but that was just too good to interrupt."

"Did you find the broom kit?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Draco said, holding it up.

"Good, now get out."

"Not so fast Potter," Draco sat down obstinately on the stairs. "If you think I'm letting you off the hook that easily, then you really don't know me very well at all. We are _so_ talking about this."

"I have work to do, Malfoy. The students will be arriving tomorrow, and I want to get everything in place for my first classes on Monday. What are you on about?"

"Only that you're in love with my godfather."

It hit Harry like a freight train. He managed to cough out a strangled laugh. "I am not," he was quick to deny, but he could feel a flush rising to his cheeks, and he was powerless to stop it.

"Fine," Draco said, standing up and coming down the rest of the stairs towards him, "just infatuated with him then."

Harry frowned. It wasn't a question, but a firm statement, and it didn't seem as though Draco was going to buy any denial from Harry anyway. So what was the point? Who could Draco tell? Who would believe him?

"How could you tell?"

"Oh, you know, the usual way."

"By being a conniving little Slytherin git schooled far too well in the arts of subterfuge and deception?"

"Careful Potter, continue with the flattery and I'll be blushing as red as you. And no, I did it the old fashioned way. I looked: with my eyes."

"Am I that obvious?"

Draco shrugged. "Sev doesn't seem to have any idea."

Harry sighed. "I know." _Merlin's Goat! Why was he talking to Malfoy about this?_ Probably because he was the only other person Harry knew that didn't think Severus was a greasy git, or, if so, thought it fondly.

"Ah, well," Draco patted Harry on the back in sardonic reassurance. "Better luck next time, Potter. Thanks for this," he held up the broom kit. "Once I have my broom tuned up, you owe me a rematch."

"Any time, Malfoy, any place."

Draco grinned at the challenge. "I'll return it tonight at the staff party: one last hoorah before the students get here and ruin all our fun. Sev will be there. Four or five glasses of firewhiskey usually make him a lot more agreeable. If you try real hard, maybe you can get him drunk." With a grin, Draco took off out the door.

"That's what I was trying to do. Don't see how it's going to help me out if we're surrounded by teachers though," Harry muttered. He had an awful image of drunkenly hitting on Severus in front of Hagrid and cringed.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry sat next to Severus at dinner, and Draco arrived a few minutes later and sat across from them, unmistakable glee glittering in his eyes.

"Hey Sev," Draco said, giving Harry a meaningful look and smirking.

_Oh, that was just evil._ Harry dug into his shepherd's pie with renewed fervor, hoping that Draco would just let it be. _Yeah right._

"Hello Draco." Severus didn't seem to notice the look that Draco was giving Harry. "Are you coming to the staff party tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss it for all the gold in Gringott's," Draco said with relish.

"It's not that good. It's just a little thing that Poppy puts together every year. Everyone usually clears out before midnight," Severus said.

"Oh, something tells me this year is going to be a little different."

Harry narrowed his eyes at Malfoy. _What was he planning?_

"Draco, what are you planning?" Snape voiced Harry's question for him.

"Oh nothing…," Draco said innocently, giving Harry another meaningful look.

_Oh, this was just great._

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: Keep up the great reviews. You guys are giving me some interesting ideas. Do you think the next chapter should be more from Snape's POV or from Potter's?

Come on, hit the button. You know you want to…


	7. I'm Not Bothered

Author's Note: I needed a break from studying, so I thought I'd get this up; it's a bit on the long side. Most everyone wanted this chapter from Severus' POV, so the slytherins pretty much steal the show in this one. Tell me if you like that, and I can do another one with Sev. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is part of a lyric in the title song.

Give Me Life

Chapter Seven

I'm Not Bothered

xXxXxXxXxXx

Draco's plan was simple. He was going to get them both drunk. He couldn't care less if Potter was happy or not, but he figured his godfather could use a good lay. Besides, the look on everyone's faces when they found out would be reward enough for him.

Hopefully, if he got enough alcohol into both of them, and then left them alone together, they would do the rest. Hell, even if it didn't work out it would be amusing to watch.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus hated the start of term faculty party. Not only did it herald his least favorite time of year, but he always ended up sitting in the corner talking to Professor Binns. This year was proving to be no different. He had been hoping that now, with Draco on staff, he would have someone to talk to, but Draco was nowhere to be found. He had been acting strange at dinner; Severus suspected that whatever Draco was up to was the reason that he hadn't arrived yet.

Harry was talking to Slughorn. After the war had ended, Slughorn had returned to the school and once more resumed Severus' old position. He'd also taken Severus' position as head of Slytherin. He couldn't stand the man himself, but Potter seemed to be getting on with him alright.

Severus held no illusions that Harry would come to talk to him. Potter was very popular among the other faculty members, everyone wanted to talk to him, and so he would have no reason to keep his caustic misanthropic boss company.

So, Severus sat in his corner, sipping his whiskey, and imagining doing all matter of forbidden things to the boy in question while Binns prattled on about goblins.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry had been on his way to go sit with Severus, but Slughorn had accosted him before he could make it across the room. He still couldn't stand Slughorn, but, now that they were going to be working together, he didn't want to offend the man by brushing him off. Slughorn was just going on and on about his famous friends and how fun the faculty parties were when he was a new professor. Harry wasn't paying too much attention to him.

He cast a gaze longingly toward Snape. The poor man was stuck in the corner being lectured at by Professor Binns. At least Snape had a whiskey. Harry spared another glance for the refreshments table. The house elves had out-done themselves; everything looked delicious. He licked his lips.

"-so Finneus said that it wasn't his pig anyway, and he didn't know where the wings had come from." Slughorn finished his anecdote and paused for Harry's expected laughter. Harry hadn't been paying attention anyway, and he used this brief pause in Slughorn's repertoire to make his escape.

"Those little sandwiches look delicious. I'm just going to pop off for a minute." Harry quickly moved away before Slughorn could drag him back into the conversation.

Once he was safely away at the refreshment table, Harry grabbed a goblet of punch, put a few of the miniature sandwiches on a plate, and was busy piling on some grapes when he was sharply nudged to the side.

"What the hell is that, Potter?" Draco asked, taking Harry's goblet of punch and replacing it with a glass of scotch.

Harry swirled the amber liquid around in the glass suspiciously. "I don't know how it is that you're planning on humiliating me, but, if it involves me getting drunk, don't expect my cooperation.

"Why would I want to humiliate you?"

Harry gave him a pointed look.

"Okay, yeah, you maybe, but not Sev."

"Then what's with the alcohol?"

"It's just a little social lubrication, Potter. Loosen up a little."

Harry gave Draco a doubtful look, but took a sip anyway. "Then what are you planning?"

"Just because I'm a Slytherin doesn't mean I'm planning anything. I wouldn't have pegged you as a bigot, Potter."

"I'm merely making observations based on personal experience," Harry claimed. "If I ever meet a Slytherin that isn't a sneaking slimy bastard, maybe I would change my mind, but I have yet to do so."

"Not even one?" Draco asked, glancing back over his shoulder at Severus.

Harry snorted. "He's the sneakiest slimiest one of the lot!"

"So, what then? That turns you on?" Draco was honestly curious.

Harry snorted again.

"Oh, see here I thought the parseltongue had a thing for snakes."

"Why, fancy your chances Malfoy?" Harry asked suggestively.

"I think I'm going to vomit."

Harry smirked and walked off toward Severus' corner.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Binns had progressed from goblins to ogres, and Severus still hadn't taken his eyes off Harry. Binns didn't seem to notice. Severus doubted that the ghost would notice if he left; the dead fool probably thought that he was teaching a class.

Harry had left Slughorn and was at the refreshment table now, his back turned to Severus. Harry usually wore muggle clothes, and- Severus had to admit- the way Harry's dungarees clung to the curves of his ass made him want to shag Potter up against the wall. He wondered if that was the desired effect.

Feeling heat rising to his face, Severus looked away. He was just finishing off the last of his firewhiskey, when Potter flopped down next to him on the lounge in the corner.

_What was he doing here?_ The last Severus had seen, Harry had been talking to Draco by the buffet. Severus was amazed at how well those two were getting along. He had spoken to Draco about the matter that morning. His godson had claimed not to have any idea as to what Severus was talking about. After much pressing, Draco had said that they were back to being rivals rather than enemies. Severus supposed that he understood this pretty well; it was how he felt about Black and Lupin. Draco and Harry challenged each other, and there was some merit in that.

In the few seconds that he'd glanced away, Potter had made it across the room and sat down next to him. He was busy devouring a plate full of sandwiches and an inappropriate amount of grapes.

"Want this?" Harry asked, trying to hand him a glass.

"What is it?" Severus asked, taking the glass against his better judgment.

"Scotch, I think."

"You think? Where did you get it?"

"Malfoy," Harry replied, as though this weren't something to be concerned about.

Severus sniffed at the alcohol. "Are you sure he hasn't drugged it with anything?'

"Not completely," Harry admitted, "but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get me drunk."

"Ah, well then." Not one to pass up a taste of The Malfoys' private scotch, he took a tentative sip. He suspected it would be in short supply before too long. The Ministry had seized most of the Malfoys' possessions along with The Malfoy Estate, leaving Draco and his mother nearly destitute with only a small cottage that Narcissa had owned before her marriage.

He was vaguely aware that Potter was staring at him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," Potter said, popping a grape in his mouth.

"Didn't you scarf down enough food at dinner?" Severus asked, glancing again at Harry's heaping plate.

Harry shrugged. "These sandwiches are pretty good." He offered the plate, "Want one?"

"No, I think I'll be fine," Severus said, taking another sip of scotch.

Harry took the plate back and started in on another sandwich.

The silence was heavy, and Severus cast about for a safe subject to talk about. "I suppose that you're looking forward to Ms. Weasley's arrival tomorrow," he said finally. _Oh, brilliant!_

"Ginny?"

"Yes, from what I understand, if you call her Ginevera she takes offense. How is young Ms. Weasley?" _Yeah, ask the man that you've been entertaining impure thoughts about for the past month how his girlfriend is doing; great idea Severus. The Dark Lord isn't around to torture you anymore, so you have to do it yourself._

"She's alright I guess." Harry shrugged. "I haven't really talked to her. We didn't really get a chance to chat at the barbeque."

"Haven't talked to her? I was under the impression that the two of you were involved." Severus watched the boy closely, hoping that he hadn't touched upon a tender subject.

Harry laughed. "I was wondering what that was all about. Ginny and I haven't been dating since sixth year."

"What happened?" _Why was he prying? It wasn't any of his business._

Harry shrugged like it was no big deal. "I was worried that she might be in danger if anyone knew that we were together. I didn't want her to get hurt just because she was dating me. We broke up and she moved on; I think she's dating Lee Jordan now."

"You're not angry that she didn't wait for you?"_How could that girl do such a thing? Here Harry was, selflessly trying to protect her, risking his life to save the world, and she just ditched him for the next guy that happened to walk by._

"A lot has changed since Ginny and I were dating," Harry explained. "I'm not the same person that I was back then. My tastes have changed."

Severus was about to ask, 'in what regard,' when they were interrupted by Draco.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Well, the first part of Draco's plan had worked out all right. So what if Sev was drinking his scotch instead of Potter, that was okay. Severus would probably need more encouragement anyway. At least the two men were talking, but Draco didn't see how Harry was going to make a move with Binns hovering over his shoulder.

He needed to get Professor Binns out of there, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Ah, well the good of the many and all that.

_Honestly, one person is genuinely nice to him for a period of fifteen minutes, and he'd turned into some sort of martyr. They had both better appreciate this._

"Hello Draco," Severus said, not sounding at all pleased to see him. That was a good sign at least.

"Hey Sev,…Potter," he added with feigned vehemence. "Professor Binns, can I have a moment of your time?" he asked, turning his attention to the ghost. "I wanted to teach the students some Quidditch theory for the first couple of classes, and I was curious to your take on the history of the sport."

"Of course, Mr. Malfoy," Binns brightened. "I would be delighted."

_This had better be worth it._

"This is for you," Draco said, handing Severus the rest of the bottle of scotch.

"I take it it's not poisoned then." Severus said, taking the bottle gratefully.

"No, not poisoned," Draco said offhandedly, smirking.

He made eye contact with Potter as he walked away, and mouthed _you owe me._ From the look on his face, Potter had received the message.

They weren't more than half a dozen feet away when Binns started in on Gertie Keddle and the origins of Quidditch in Queerditch Marsh.

_Oh yeah, owed him big._

xXxXxXxXxXx

Potter was staring at him again. Severus wondered if he should remark upon it, but he decided to leave the matter be.

"What's going on with you and Draco? He has been acting strange lately. Do you know what he's up to?" Severus asked.

"Um," Harry hedged, "yeah, I have a pretty good idea."

"That idea being…" Severus prodded.

It was probably the first time Harry had looked away from him since the boy had first sat down. "Just the usual general humiliation I expect."

"I thought the two of you buried the hatchet."

"To a point, but I think Malfoy figures it's for my own good."

"The humiliation?"

"No, that's just a side effect. Malfoy's more interested in the cause of the humiliation."

_There never was anyone who could be quite so vague as Harry Potter._

"And the source of the humiliation would be…?"

Harry began to turn an interesting shade of red, but Severus couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed. "Could we just talk about something else?" Harry pleaded.

_Oh, this must be good. He'd have to get all the details from Draco later. In the meantime he'd let Potter be._

"Very well," he allowed. When Harry didn't say anything, he added, "At your discretion, Potter."

"Oh, me?" Harry fidgeted while he tried to think of something.

Severus was wondering why the boy hadn't just left already. There had to be plenty of faculty members more enjoyable to talk to than he was.

"Okay," Harry said finally. "Tell me about your first year teaching here. Was it difficult with your history as a death eater?"

_Of all the topics to choose, why that?_

"Yes," Severus answered truthfully. "Even though I'd been exonerated, most of the parent's didn't want me teaching their children, but, even then, Lucius had the board in his pocket, so there wasn't much they could do about it."

"That must've been horrible. I'm nervous enough, and most of my students are going to have the idea that I'm some sort of hero."

"You are a hero." _Merlin, that sounded pathetic._

"No I'm not."

_When did Potter get so humble? _"You saved the world; I believe that is the usual definition."

"But I couldn't save everyone. So many people died, and it's my fault."

Severus frowned. _How could Potter even think that? _"It's not your fault, and a lot more people would have died without you." He didn't know that Harry was carrying so much guilt around with him.

"But I could have done better. If I had concentrated more in school, or been more clearheaded in the end maybe I… maybe you…" Harry was staring down at his hands, and he dropped his voice down to a whisper, almost as though he was hoping Severus wouldn't hear him. "I'm sorry Severus, you deserved better. I should have done better. You've sacrificed so much for me, for everyone, and no one sees it. They just see the former death eater who killed Albus Dumbledore- never mind the circumstances."

This whole little speech made Severus decidedly uncomfortable. He wasn't used to this kind of openness from Potter. He wasn't quite sure how he should react. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't good at that sort of thing. Instead he finished off his glass of scotch and poured another from the bottle that Draco had left.

"Why aren't you drinking, Potter?" he asked as he noticed the absence of alcohol in the other man's hand.

"You have my glass, sir," Harry reminded him.

"Honestly Potter, it's a wonder that you've survived this long with such a strong aversion to magic." Severus pulled his wand out and wordlessly summoned a glass over from the refreshment table. He filled it from the bottle and handed it to Harry.

"Is it just all the time living with muggles, or is there some other reason that you never think to use your wand?"

Harry took a drink of his scotch. "No, probably just the muggles. I wasn't allowed to even talk about magic while I was living with The Dursleys. There were times, the first couple of summers after I enrolled at Hogwarts, when I wondered if the whole thing wasn't just some dream I'd had. Some kind of wonderful dream, but now I was awake and things would go back to the way they were meant to be. I was back to being the ugly little orphan in the cupboard under the stairs that no one loved or even wanted. But then, if I'd dreamed the whole thing up, I wouldn't have included a psychotically evil dark wizard that was out to kill me, or Draco Malfoy for that matter." Harry paused before adding in a soft whisper, "or you."

"No, you wouldn't want the slimy old potion master around to ruin your perfect little life." He'd meant it to be a joke, a continuation of the teasing and bickering that they had developed as their normal means of communication, but he just ended up sounding bitter.

It was just too close to his own experiences. His father had never loved him. Tobias Snape thought of his wife and son as possessions; he used to beat Severus' mother if he caught her using magic. It was a wonder he ever allowed his son to attend Hogwarts. Severus was sure that the man was just glad to get rid of him for nine months out of the year. When Severus' mother had died, when he was eleven, it was understandably hard on him. After that, he had felt very much like the ugly little orphan boy that no one loved. Hogwarts had been like a dream then: his safe haven away from his abusive father and that horrid little cottage in Spinner's End. And, it didn't even matter how much Black and Potter bullied him, and it didn't matter that he was still the ugly little orphan, because he was finally home.

He suddenly felt really horrible about how he had treated Harry; he was so busy seeing James in the boy that he had failed to see himself. He took another drink to hide the look on his face. He desperately wanted to apologize to Harry, fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Instead, he said, "I know what you mean, about Hogwarts being a dream. I wasn't exactly welcomed home at the end of the term either. Summers can be hard."

The conversation seemed to be getting more emotional than Harry was comfortable with, because he took another drink of scotch and didn't say anything. For that matter, it was getting more emotional than Severus was comfortable with. He was beginning to feel the effects of the scotch now, and he wanted to change the subject to something more innocuous before he started sharing things that he shouldn't.

"Are you nervous about your first class?"

"Very," Harry admitted.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." _When did he turn into the encouraging sort?_ "You have the advantage of not being a dark wizard yourself."

"There is that," Harry conceded. "I'm just worried that the student's won't respect me."

"How could they not?" _He was Harry Potter for Merlin's sake. _"You're a world famous wizard."

"So was Gilderoy Lockhart, but that didn't stop any of us from thinking that he was a twat."

Severus' lips twitched in a ghost of a smile. "Lockhart was a twat." He took another drink of scotch so that he could pretend not to notice the look Harry was giving him. "You don't have to worry about that."

"Maybe not everyone thinking I'm a twat, but I'm not this great powerful wizard that everyone thinks I am either. You said it yourself- I got lucky.

_How could he have thought this man arrogant? _"I was only joking when I said that. It's amazing that you were able to survive, but don't think for a minute that very many other men would have made it, because you're more powerful than you think." _Oh yeah, the scotch was definitely starting to kick in._

Potter was looking at him like he'd sprouted an extra limb.

"Don't let it go to your head," he dismissed. Severus took another drink of scotch; maybe, if he got really pissed, he could forget all about this in the morning. "And don't worry about the students; you can give out detention now- get back at Ms. Weasley if you want."

Harry smiled. "No, I don't think that's necessary. I don't know what I would have done if Ginny had wanted to get back together. She's a nice girl, but I was dating her for the wrong reasons in the first place and I really wouldn't be interested in a repeat performance."

"The wrong reasons?"

Harry started to fidget again; Severus had obviously touched upon a delicate subject. _Well, he could be delicate. _"I understand if it's something personal."

Now Harry was beginning to blush, and he took another drink of scotch. The alcohol must have supplemented his Gryffindor courage some, because Harry finally explained.

"I was interested in someone else, but I tried to convince myself that I wasn't. The relationship would have been," he cast about for the right adjective, "inappropriate. Or, at least it would have seemed that way to everyone else, and I couldn't risk having my personal life plastered all over The Daily Prophet at the time. The other person wasn't likely to be interested in me anyway, so I thought that maybe if I dated Ginny it would all go away. I could pretend that I'd never had those feelings in the first place."

"Did it work?" Severus asked. He was particularly curious, as he'd recently found himself in a similar situation.

"For about a week," Harry answered. "After that it only made things worse. I still had feelings for the other person, and now I had guilt for leading Ginny on added to it."

_Interesting lack of pronouns, never he or she, always 'this person'. Was Potter hinting that he was gay? An inappropriate gay relationship? But who? _Homosexuality, while not exactly encouraged, was completely acceptable- even common. Albus Dumbledore himself was gay, and he was well recognized as one of the greatest wizards of all time. Harry Potter being in a homosexual relationship might make the papers, but it wouldn't exactly cause a ruckus. There wasn't even the disappointed family to worry about. Black and Lupin obviously weren't going to care, so it had to be the who. _Who was Harry attracted to that he didn't want to be- or hadn't wanted to be? Someone male that the public and his godparents wouldn't approve of… Someone who wouldn't want him back…_

_What exactly was the nature of the newfound camaraderie with Draco Malfoy?_

He became aware that Harry was staring at him again, waiting for him to say something. He found himself answering in his own best interests, rather than offering Harry any particularly sound advice.

"If the other person isn't interested, then there isn't much that you can do about it. You're best off to just forget about the whole thing and just stay friends." In retrospect, Severus supposed this was sound enough advice. There was a time he'd had trouble getting over his own unrequited love, but he'd waited it out and the feeling had passed. It took almost twenty years, but the feeling had passed. Harry was better than Severus in so many ways though; it wouldn't take him that long to find someone else. Just so long as it wasn't Draco, Severus would be able to handle it. He would not be able to sit idly by if Harry began to date his godson. That would be too much, even for him.

"And what if this other person doesn't want to be friends? What if they hate me too much for that?"

_Oh yeah, he was definitely talking about Draco. _"Then you remain enemies. Maybe if this person continues to hate you, your feelings will change."

It must be the alcohol, because it didn't strike Severus until just that moment how ridiculous it was that he was giving Harry Potter relationship advice.

"I really don't think they will." Harry let out a sigh, and finished off his scotch.

Severus refilled Harry's glass and topped off his own.

"You know," Harry continued, "I think this is the longest actual conversation I've even had with you. It's kind of nice. We should do it more often."

_Kind of nice? Talking to him? _"I wouldn't be adverse to the idea."

Harry looked at him with those bright emerald eyes; his expression was unreadable. "Good, now that we're neighbors we should take full advantage of each other's company."

_If only_ "I think you've had too much to drink Mr. Potter."

"You're the one who keeps filling my glass."

"Well, I'm officially cutting you off," Severus told him, and he took the bottle from where he'd set it on the floor between them and put it to the side out of Harry's reach.

"Spoilsport," Harry muttered, sipping from his glass. "Hey, where did everyone go?"

Severus looked up at the rest of the room. Harry was right; it was empty. He glanced over at the clock in the corner. _It was eleven already?_ "I guess the party is over."

Harry chuckled and finished off half his glass of scotch in one go. "I didn't even notice anyone leave."

"It is late. I should probably escort you to bed." Severus cringed at his choice of words.

Harry grinned at him, that unreadable look back in his eyes.

"Back to your rooms," Severus corrected himself, instantly wishing that he hadn't. "There's no way that Greggory is going to let you in if you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Harry said, finishing off his scotch, "not yet, but we could fix that. I have a nice bottle of wine back in my quarters."

_Was Potter inviting him back to his rooms?_ "Maybe just one glass."

Harry got to his feet with a groan. "Come on then," he said, extending his hand to help Severus up.

"I'm not so old that I cannot get to my feet on my own," Severus said, but took the boys hand anyway. He was actually glad that he did; he hadn't realized just how much he had had to drink until he tried to stand up.

"Obviously," Harry said, smirking. He wrapped an arm around Severus' waist and they headed up to Harry's rooms together.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"You're drunk," Greggory observed, leering at them.

"Yes, and I'm The Headmaster, so let us in," Severus said.

"No, I don't think I will."

Severus pulled out his wand.

"Oh fine, no need to get so touchy."

xXxXxXxXxXx

One glass of wine quickly turned into a bottle, and they talked long into the night. Harry told Severus about his experiences destroying the horcruxes during the war. Severus told Harry about his first year as headmaster, trying to help Harry and protect the students without drawing The Dark Lord's attention. Harry told Severus about The Dursleys, and Severus told Harry about Tobias Snape. Harry talked about Quidditch. Severus talked about potions. They both talked about how much they dreaded the start of classes.

When the conversation had reached a lull Severus said, "It's getting late. I should go." He tried to get up off the sofa, where he had been slumped against Harry's shoulder, but his body didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"It stopped getting late an hour ago," Harry said. "It got late, and now it's early, so you might as well stay."

"Okay then." In his drunken state, Potter's logic seemed irrefutable. It was just so comfortable sitting there next to Harry; he could smell the other man's hair, and it was wonderful. He sunk lower into the couch cushions and looked up at Potter under drooping eyelids.

Harry rose stiffly to his feet, eliciting an unhappy groan from Severus, and walked across the room to get the quilt that he had draped over his rocking chair. When he returned to the couch, he used it to cover both himself and Severus.

Severus dragged his lids back open to look at Harry, but didn't say anything.

"I'm sure that I have a couple of beds around here somewhere if you prefer," Harry offered.

Severus was far too comfortable and sleepy to even consider moving now that he had resolved to stay. He knew he was going to regret this in the morning, but Harry was just so warm and he smelled so nice, and Severus was just too drunk to care. He let out a soft moan in response to Harry's suggestion and curled deeper into the quilt.

Harry smiled and did the same.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I guess the button's green.


	8. I'll Break Before I Bend

Author's Note: Christmas was kind of hectic. I really hate the holidays. Anyway, I'm sorry about the long wait between updates, but this chapter is a longer one to make up for it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is the rest of the lyric from the last chapter.

Give Me Life

Chapter Eight

I'll Break Before I Bend

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus awoke groggily to an unnatural amount of sunlight shining in his eyes. _Strange, he'd charmed his drapes to close in the evening._ He tried to get up, but there was a heavy weight on his chest, holding him down. He was still too sleepy for rational thought, and it took him a while to blink his eyes into focus and actually look down to see what was on top of him.

It was Potter's head, and he was drooling. Severus could feel it soaking through the fabric of his robes: hot and wet.

Severus closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was having a wonderful dream. It was the same dream that he'd been having all week actually, but this time it was so much more vivid.

_Severus pressed hard up against his back, one hand on Harry's right hip the other wrapped around Harry's chest. Hot breath against his neck. Severus' velvet smooth voice whispering in his ear, telling him how sexy he was and how much Severus needed him, and just how he was going to take him._

It was so real that Harry could almost smell him.

A slight shifting beneath him brought Harry's fantasy to an abrupt stop. He sat up quickly and looked around, reaching for his wand. The nightstand where he usually set it wasn't there, and it took him a second to realize that he wasn't in his bed. It took a second longer to remember the events of last night.

He spared a smile for his sleeping boss, and then started the search for his spectacles. After searching for a few minutes, he located them tucked with his wand between a couple of empty wine bottles. Once more armed and with his world firmly in focus, Harry felt better prepared to handle the morning.

Severus was still sleeping. He had a slight smile on his face; it was probably the first actual smile Harry had ever seen on the man. It suited him. Harry liked having Severus sleeping there on his sofa, and he watched the man sleep for a while, enjoying the freedom to look his fill while Severus wouldn't notice. He was focused on that smile, and he almost didn't notice the little puddle of drool.

His eyes widened, and he panicked for a moment.

_There was no way that was Snape's drool._

He must have curled up on top of Severus when he fell asleep. _Shit. Well, that explained how vivid his dream was. He must have had his face buried in Severus' hair. No wonder he could smell him._

Harry flicked his wand at Severus' chest and performed a quick cleaning charm. Snape wouldn't be overjoyed if he woke up and found himself covered in Harry's drool. He gave Severus one last fond look, and then he headed into the kitchen to make tea.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The next time Severus awoke it was to a combination of even more sunlight and the last thing anyone with a hangover wants to smell: eggs.

Harry was no longer sprawled on top of him, and he could actually get to his feet now. He didn't know how anyone so thin could weigh so much, but it was kind of nice. _The boy must be solid muscle._

He straightened his robes and wandered into the kitchen, toward that wretched smell of eggs. Potter had his back turned, facing the stove, and Severus got another good look at Harry's shapely rear, clad in the same tight trousers from the night before, and then Potter turned and he got another eyeful: Harry in an emerald green apron, spatula in hand. _How wonderfully domestic._

"Oh good, you're finally up. I thought I was going to have to wake you." Harry was still grinning like a loon.

"What time is it?" Severus asked, his voice sounded hoarse.

"Eleven," Harry said, putting a cup of tea in Severus' hand. "We overslept breakfast, so I made us some eggs." Harry gestured to the table. "Have a seat; they'll be ready in a minute."

"How much did I drink last night?" Severus asked, after draining half his cup of tea. He rubbed little circles at his temples.

"More than me," Harry said, dishing up eggs, bacon, and hash browns for both of them. "You finished off most of that bottle of scotch Malfoy gave us on your own."

"Malfoy gave _me_," Severus corrected, "-er, Draco."

Harry smirked. "Either way. In addition, there were three empty bottles of wine sitting on the counter this morning, and I remember you having considerably more than one glass. So, I would say, too much would be the answer to your question."

Harry set a heaping plate before Severus, and then sat down across from him.

"You look awful," Harry said, finally looking him over for the first time that morning.

"Gee thanks Potter, you're the picture of health and beauty yourself," Severus sniped back. _He was, Merlin he really was._

"Just for that, I'm not going to give you this hangover potion." Harry pulled a little vial from his pocket and held it tauntingly so Severus could see.

Severus glowered.

It was a really good glower too, brought on by the hangover and backed up by the torture of eggs, which he was too polite to decline, and Potter's general cheerfulness, but it had no effect.

"If you want it, you're going to have to do better than that."

"I will hex you into next week," Severus threatened.

"Not without your wand."

"Want to bet?" Severus patted the front of his robes in search of his wand. "Potter, what did you do with my wand?"

"Nothing," Harry said, throwing up his hands in mock innocence as he began to laugh. "You left it on the bookcase by the door when you took your shoes off and tripped over the rug in the entryway."

"I did no such thing."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, you did. You took your wand out to threaten my doorman; remember?"

Severus scowled at him, and, calling up his magic, he held his hand up to summon his wand. Nothing happened. _Well really, how was he supposed to do silent wandless magic with a hangover and Harry sitting there grinning at him and looking all hot and fuckable in that apron?_

He sighed and let his hand drop to the table. "Very well," he relented. It wasn't as though he'd actually hex Harry anyway- _well, maybe a little._ "What is it you want?"

Harry stoked his chin, weighing options.

_This is not going to be good._

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry knew what he really wanted, but couldn't bring himself to ask for it- not like this anyway. It wasn't anything as involved as the things he thought about at night before he went to bed. He just wanted a kiss. He didn't know why he didn't just take it last night when they were both drunk enough to pretend that they didn't remember it the next morning. He was almost positive that Severus wouldn't have refused him last night. _But now?_ _He wasn't so sure._ He didn't want to risk it; this was too important. It wasn't that he was too afraid to ask, or even afraid of what the answer would be. He was afraid that if Severus refused him now, he wouldn't get another chance.

So, he didn't ask for the kiss he so desperately wanted, but he wasn't about to pass up this chance to make a little headway either.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Buy me dinner," Harry finally answered.

"Dinner?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, next weekend, we can celebrate that we survived the first week of classes."

"You have me at your mercy, and you want food?" Severus asked incredulously.

Harry just gave him an enigmatic smile.

"Are you sure?" Severus asked. _Why was he tempting fate? He should be jumping at the chance to take Potter to dinner, but there must be something he was missing. _He was so sure that there was something else going on here, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He was tempted to just read Harry's mind, but, with his luck, the boy would just block him anyway. _Damn occlumency lessons. _Even if he did succeed, then he'd have to explain to Potter why he was using legilimency on him, and he wasn't sure himself.

"Are you going to take the deal or not?" Harry asked, jiggling the little vial so that the potion sloshed inside.

Severus' hammering head made all doubts disappear. He grabbed for the potion, but Harry pulled his hand back out of Severus' reach.

"Are you going to take the deal or not?" Harry repeated.

"I'll take it," Severus answered, leaning over the table to grab Harry's wrist and take the potion. But, once he had hold of Harry he lost control of his own actions. Instead of grabbing the potion like he'd meant to, he felt himself leaning even further forward to kiss him. _And for one wonderful moment he was sure that Harry would kiss him back. _But then he regained control of his body and managed to stop himself; he grabbed the potion and sat back down.

Severus closed his eyes and downed the potion, trying to forget about what he had almost done and failing miserably. He was so preoccupied that he almost didn't realize that he'd broken the first rule of potion making: never drink anything you didn't brew yourself. Still, his hangover was gone, so what's the worst that could happen?

"Where did you get that, Potter?" he asked, just to be safe.

"Brewed it myself," Harry said proudly.

_Oh, dear Merlin!_

Harry must have noticed that Severus wasn't exactly pleased with this news, because he became quite defensive.

"I'm not as bad at Potions as you seem to think."

Severus gave him a pointed look.

"Well maybe I would be better if you weren't such a rubbish teacher."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You're just prejudiced," Harry accused.

Severus' other eyebrow joined the first.

"Hermione helped me," Harry finally admitted. "Just eat your damned eggs."

Severus continued to look at Harry with that mostly neutral expression, and Harry turned a little red. He rather liked it when Harry cussed around him, mostly just because the proper look of disapproval would add that color to his cheeks.

Harry started shoving forkfuls of eggs in his mouth, muttering about Slytherins.

Severus spared him an actual smile, since Harry wasn't looking, and started on his own eggs. Potter's breakfast wasn't nearly as torturous as he was expecting. He nibbled a bit of bacon; it was even better than the eggs and not at all burned. He took a sip of orange juice. _Was that freshly squeezed? _It was all so delicious, and there Potter was obliviously shoveling it in while he looked over the Quidditch page of The Daily Prophet. _How could he even taste it like that?_

"This is actually good, Potter," he said.

Harry swallowed before he answered. _Thank Merlin for small favors_. "Um, yeah, I can sort of cook."

"Strictly eggs and bacon, or other things as well?" Severus was interested in how someone so abysmal at Potions could have the skills needed for cooking, not that there was much skill involved in frying a couple of eggs and some bacon.

"No, I can cook just about anything. The Dursley's used to make me cook for them." Harry paused after saying that, looking apologetic for bringing it up. "I don't usually go through the trouble when it's just me, not in the mornings anyway; I usually just grab some fruit or something on my way out. It's kind of nice to have someone else to cook for." Harry smiled at him.

"If it all tastes like this, feel free to cook for me whenever you like."

"I might just take you up on that," Harry said, returning to his breakfast.

_How very strange._ It seemed like Potter actually enjoyed his company. Severus didn't understand how that was possible, but he wasn't about to complain. This felt very comfortable: sitting here in Harry's kitchen, eating breakfast, and swapping sections of The Prophet. It wasn't an experience that he would mind repeating, but the students would be arriving in a matter of hours, and he would be expected, as the headmaster, to eat all of his meals in The Great Hall. Still, Harry would be there too, and maybe they could do this again on the weekends or over the holidays. Either way, the year was looking up.

He'd have to take Potter somewhere nice for dinner. That is, of course, if the both of them actually survived the coming week.

Harry finished his breakfast first, but he seemed content to sit there and read the paper while Severus ate, nursing a cup of tea.

When Severus had finished eating, Harry performed a few charms, and had the dishes doing themselves in the sink while he walked Severus to the door. Harry even retrieved Severus' wand from the bookcase while he laced his boots.

"I guess I'll see you tonight at the feast then," Harry said as he handed Severus his wand.

"Shudder to think."

Harry smiled. "Well, dreaded though the thought may be, it's about time we got some students in here. The halls are a little quiet for my taste."

"Yes, the castle is starting to get a little lonely."

"I wouldn't have pegged you for the lonely type Snape. I thought you liked the peace and quiet: all those years in the dungeons."

"I wasn't talking about me," Severus clarified. "I would be more than happy if all the little brats decided to be home schooled, but I was talking about Hogwarts. And," Severus added as an afterthought, "I'm not as inhuman as you seem to think."

"No, lately I've been seriously reevaluating how I think of you. But what's all this about Hogwarts being lonely?"

"You know that Hogwarts has its own magical signature right?"

"Um… yes?"

Severus rolled his eyes, in that way that said Potter-you're-an-idiot. He deigned to explain, slipping into professor mode. "Adolescent witches and wizards have very poor control over their magic. Nature's way of dealing with this is to vent the excess magical energy into the surrounding area. Since Hogwarts spends nine months of the year being pumped full of all of this extra magical energy, it is necessary that the castle is able to absorb it, and Hogwarts has built up a large store of magical energy over the last few centuries. As a result, the castle has manifested a consciousness. Hogwarts castle is probably the most powerful magical being in the world." Severus paused in his tirade to see if Potter was listening. Miraculously, he was, but Snape wasn't really surprised by that. Apparently, Harry wasn't the only one seriously reevaluating his perceptions. "Anyway, it's all in-"

"So help me Snape, if you say _Hogwarts A History_…"

"What? No, it's all in my speech tonight. I was going to talk about the castle's renovations. What's wrong with _Hogwarts A History?_"

"Nothing, probably, but that book's been plaguing my life for longer than I want to remember."

"You could always try reading it."

Harry shrugged. "Hermione's been quoting that thing at me for the last seven years; I'm sure I've heard it all by now."

"You never know. That book is full of all kinds of useful information. You might learn something. It's worth a read, especially now that you're back at the castle. There are a few references to hidden passageways that even your troublesome father and his mongrel friends were never able to find. It could be an enjoyable way to spend a weekend. I know your penchant for danger and misguided adventures."

"Greggory says that you make your own fun." Harry smirked. "He can be quite insightful."

"For a psychotic maniac," Severus scoffed.

"I find that great insight is the mark of any psychotic maniac," Harry postulated. "Take you for instance…"

"Enough Potter," Severus cut him off. "As much as I would love to stand here and continue with the bickering all afternoon, I have close to four hundred students arriving in less than eight hours, and I still have preparations to make."

"Of course, I still have some shopping to do myself. See you at dinner?"

"Yes." Severus paused, the portrait half open. "And Harry?"

"Yeah, Sev?" Harry asked: cheeky grin.

"The things I said last night… I would prefer it if you kept that to yourself." He didn't really want to bring any of that back up, not without the requisite alcohol, but he wanted to be absolutely clear as to the nature of their conversation.

"Of course," Harry answered, as if it should go without saying. "Can I expect the same of you?"

"I'm not one for idle gossip," Severus said. "All your confidences are safe with me. You have my word." He gave Harry one last speculative look as he left.

Severus wasn't overly concerned with much of anything as he crossed the hall to his own quarters, said a quiet, "Potter," and went down the stairs into his office. He wasn't concerned with anything at all- until he saw his godson sitting in a chair across from his desk wearing a smug expression.

"You weren't at breakfast," Draco said, as Severus attempted to ignore him and walk into his personal quarters unfettered.

"No, I was not," Severus affirmed.

"Good night?" Draco asked, smiling licentiously.

"I had a little too much to drink and I fell asleep on Potter's couch. What would you know about it, Draco?" Severus asked.

Draco frowned at him. "You fell asleep? You fell asleep! I talked to Binns for an hour, and you fell asleep? That's the last time I ever do anything nice for you."

"What?"

"That was my last bottle of scotch," Draco was still raving. "My last bottle and he doesn't even do anything! No, he falls asleep. I should've spiked it with something." Draco broke off into angry muttering.

"What exactly was I supposed to be doing?" Severus asked. He had a pretty good idea of what Draco was ranting on about, and he didn't like it at all.

Draco shuddered. "I don't want to think about it. The point is, you had time, and opportunity, and a willing Gryffindor to do it with. What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem?" Severus was starting to get a little angry himself. "Regardless of whether or not I find Potter attractive, I am not the type of person who takes advantage of someone just because they are too drunk to say no."

"Oh wow!" Severus had been expecting Draco to snap back at him, but instead a slight smile returned to his face. "You really don't know. I thought you were just being practical, but you really don't know."

"What don't I know?" Severus asked. He was starting to get frustrated.

"How can you not know?" Draco asked. "It's been what, two years? Three? It was way before he started dating the Weasley bint. I don't even like him and I could see it. What kind of a spy are you? And then you tell me that you changed your password to Potter, because it's the last thing anyone would suspect- and I pretend like I don't know the real reason, but I do. And I figure, what the hell, I'll do something nice for someone for a change: see what it's like. I owe Harry, and I figured that you would be a lot more enjoyable to be around if you were getting laid."

"What are you saying, Draco?"

"That Harry isn't the one that needs to get drunk; you are."

"You mean…" Severus couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Potter's got it for you bad?" Draco provided. "Oh yeah, big time." Draco stood to leave. "That better have been one comfy couch. That was my last bottle of scotch, Sev. Fell asleep," Draco muttered. "I can't believe it."

And then Draco was gone, and Severus was all alone with this new information, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry arrived in The Great Hall that night just before the students started filing in, in groups of six and seven. Draco had been kind enough to save Harry a seat between himself and Severus, for which he was intensely grateful. The empty seat on Severus' right was reserved for McGonagall. Harry assumed that she was in the front hall waiting for the first years. If Draco hadn't saved him a seat, he may have found himself sitting between Slughorn and Trewlany, and Harry didn't care how late he was; he didn't deserve that.

The reason he was so late was that he had spent the day in Hogsmede buying new robes. Other than the dress robes that Harry wore to Ministry functions, all of his clothes were from muggle shops. He spent most of his time either in or in close proximity to the muggle world, and it was simply too much bother to be changing in and out of robes all of the time.

He'd been tempted to go back to Madam Malkin's to get his new teaching robes, but Harry had heard good things about the new clothing store in Hogsmede, and he figured that Madam Malkin could use a break after the back-to-school rush.

The store had been quiet, and after the owner, a witch named Mindy, caught wind of how much Harry was planning to spend, she had kept him there for almost three hours, showing him different fabrics and sizing him for robes.

After that, Harry had spent a couple of hours shopping while the alterations were made. He bought a copy of _Hogwarts A History_; after seven years of Hermione trying to get him to read it, it only took Severus a few moments tempting him with secret passageways and hidden chambers to get him to go out and buy the thing.

He stopped in at the Weasley's new shop in Hogsmede, but the twins were in the London shop that day, so Harry left and went for lunch and a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks instead. After lunch, he still had some time to kill, so he took a walk over to The Shrieking Shack out of some morbid sense of nostalgia.

He hadn't been back since the night of the war: the night he thought Severus had died. It seemed that half of the most poignant moments of his life had happened inside that rundown little piece of real-estate, so maybe it wasn't so odd that he wanted to go there.

It took him almost twenty minutes to break in. He discarded his wand after several attempts, and he finally just resorted to prying away the boards over one window with his bare hands. The nails were rusted almost all the way through, and the boards pulled off easily enough. He crawled in once he had enough boards pulled away to squeeze in through the gap. Harry wandered around on the ground floor for a while, examining the patterns in the dust on the floor. Some of the markings were older: footprints changing to paw prints and back again. The other markings were more recent. A clear path through the dust, a foot and a half wide, wove a bit from side to side as it led up the stairs. Harry shuddered as he recognized the blind basilisk's trail, and he followed it upstairs.

On the second floor, the trail became indistinguishable. Harry glanced at the splintered wreckage of the bed in the corner before he was inexorably drawn to the dried blood on the floor. He stood there for a long time just staring at it.

He knew that Severus was alive and well. He knew that it had been touch and go for awhile, but after almost a month at St. Mungo's Severus had made a full recovery and went right back to work. The Ministry had held a small private inquiry, but Harry's testimony had been more than enough to assure them of Severus' innocence. Harry knew that Severus didn't like to talk about any of it. That was fine by Harry. He didn't like thinking about it. He didn't like thinking about how close he'd come to just leaving Severus in that horrible little shack. Even then he'd thought that Severus was dead, but he couldn't bring himself to just leave his mangled body lying in the pooling blood. He knew that there was a war happening and that he had limited time. He knew that Severus' body would be there waiting for him if he was still alive to come and claim it later, but he just could not bring himself to do it. At the last moment, Harry had turned back.

He'd nearly jumped out of his skin when the corpse he'd been levitating behind him took a ragged breath. Up until that point he'd been pretty numb, but, as he did his best to stop the bleeding and put Severus under a stasis spell, he began to sob uncontrollably. He didn't have time to take Severus to the Hospital Wing when he got back to the castle. He put Severus in bed in the headmaster's private chambers while he used the pensieve in the office. Even though he had managed to stop most of the bleeding Severus' broken body had stained the bedding crimson.

Harry's last thought as he had walked to his death was that he hoped someone would find Severus soon and that he would live. After everything, Severus deserved to live and find happiness; Harry thought that there was no one anywhere who deserved anything more.

Harry felt the wetness on his cheeks before he realized that he was crying. He pulled his wand from his robes and cast a scouring spell on the dried blood. He didn't want any part of Severus left in this unhappy little shack. He stood and watched until the scouring spell had removed all traces of Severus' blood, and then he walked silently back down the stairs and climbed back out the windows.

He would not come here again.

All in all, it had been something of a long day, but Harry felt pretty flash in his new robes and he could feel Severus leg pressed against his on the bench, so things were looking up.

The robes were more comfortable than he was expecting. He had never much cared for wizards robes; they had always felt too baggy and clumsy to him, but the new robes had been tailored to perfection. The set he chose to wear to the feast were black with emerald green trim. They were close fitting through the top and cut away over dark trousers. The outer robes were made of some very soft supple fabric and had green embroidery. He even bought a pair of dragon skin boots to go with the new robes. The whole ensemble made him feel a little sexy and ready for anything; he just hoped Severus would notice.

Harry was enjoying looking over the students from this high up. It was a completely different experience from this vantage point. He watched the students chatting away eagerly with classmates that they hadn't seen all summer. He picked out Ginny's vibrant red hair immediately. It was so strange watching them all. He could remember being down there amongst them with Ron and Hermione, and being up at the staff table looking down was almost like an out-of-body experience. He was about to make some comment about it to Severus, who had yet to say one word to him, when McGonagall led the first years in, and the hall fell silent.

Harry watched with interest as the sorting hat sang its song and began sorting the new students into houses as McGonagall called off their names. Harry recognized some of the surnames, while others were new to him. There were roughly forty students in all: about the usual number. Most of the students were already sorted when Harry realized that a single student had yet to be placed in Slytherin. Almost a dozen students had been sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively, and nine or ten students had been added to Hufflepuff; Mathew Price joined them. Harry looked over to Severus to see if he had noticed the trend also. It seemed that he had, because he was frowning and muttering under his breath.

Aunica Rothwell was sorted into Ravenclaw.

Marybell Stevens, another Hufflepuff.

Armand Wallace was a Gryffindor.

There were only two students left now. Harry glanced at Draco, and he was looking as confused as Harry felt.

"What's that scruffy bit of haberdashery playing at?" Draco asked no one in particular.

Damian Warrick, a slight bookish boy with dark brown hair, approached the stool, trembling a bit, and the hat was dropped over his head. There was only a moment's pause before the hat called out, "Slytherin," and the Slytherin table erupted into cheers.

The last student, Amanda Zach, was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Only one Slytherin," Severus whispered. He turned to Harry. "I was expecting a decline in favor, but one student; this is ridiculous."

Severus placed a hand on the table next to Harry's as he leaned over him to speak to Draco, and Harry felt his breath hitch in his chest. "Be a good boy, Drake," he whispered. "Run and interrogate that foolish piece of headgear for me, and find out what it's thinking." Severus glanced up at McGonagall who was returning to the table, looking smug. "Torture it if you have to: any means necessary."

"How exactly do you torture a hat?" Draco asked.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. If there's anyone I can trust to be completely devious, it's you Draco."

"Don't think that a few compliments are going to make up for what an idiot you are. You still owe me another bottle of scotch."

As Draco left the hall to intercept the hat on its way back to Severus' office, he stood to give the expected start-of-term speech.

"I want to start by welcoming all of our new students and welcoming back everyone else. I know how hard last year was on all of us, students as well as staff, and I hope that we can put that behind us in the coming term.

"I am sure that you've all noticed the staff changes by now. Professor Slughorn will once again be taking up the Potions position, and he will be the new Head of Slytherin House." There was some respectful applause from the Slytherin table. "I'm also pleased to announce that Professor Potter will be joining us as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." The whole hall practically erupted; Ginny Weasley even whistled. Harry turned a little pink, and Severus patted him on the back, resting his hand on Harry's shoulder and smirking. "Also, Draco Malfoy will be joining us as the new flight instructor, as Madam Hooch has taken a coaching position with the English National Quidditch Team." This news was greeted with both hearty applause and fervent whispers. "Professor Malfoy has just stepped out for a moment, but he should be returning shortly." Severus paused, only now removing his hand from Harry's shoulder, as if he had just noticed it was there.

"You may notice that there have been some renovations to the school in addition to the necessary repairs. Hopefully, this will not pose too much of a problem for anyone. However, should you find yourself lost down some unfamiliar hallway or staring at some unconventional new architecture, know that these additions were made by Hogwarts itself. In its long years of service, the school has absorbed the excess magical energy of its students. Through the use of this magical energy, the castle was able to repair itself after the final battle and make a few minor renovations and additions. So, do not be alarmed if you should sense some part of yourself in the castle or if some new bit of molding triggers a childhood memory. Hogwarts has chosen only to include the very best of us in its design, and you should all feel honored to have some little bit of yourselves included.

"Now I just have a few little reminders before we eat. Quidditch try-outs will be held in two weeks time; if you wish to try out for your house team, you should schedule a time with the team captain. Also, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind everyone that all products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are strictly forbidden, and any student caught with said contraband on school grounds will have it confiscated, be faced with a week's worth of detention scrubbing toilets and mopping floors, and lose no less than twenty house points. Finally, I just want to remind everyone that The Black Forest is off limits to anyone who does not wish to be eaten by Hagrid's little brother."

With that, Severus snapped his fingers, and the empty plates on the tables were filled with food.

Draco returned just in time for dinner, looking flustered. His normally perfect hair was mussed.

"Well?" Severus asked leaning over Harry again to question Draco.

"The hat says that it sorts students into the houses that they best fit, and that it has never once sorted a child into a house that they didn't want to be in. It also said that it has been sorting students since this school opened, and if you want it to just throw a couple more students into Slytherin to even out your numbers, then you have another thing coming to you."

Harry snorted.

"Oh, pipe down, Potter," Severus snapped.

Harry managed to fight down some very unmasculine giggles, and settled in on a respectable snicker. "You just got threatened by a hat."

Severus twitched.

Harry smirked a little, but managed to stop laughing. Severus had leaned back into his own seat, allowing McGonagall to enter the conversation.

"We could just put the boy in Ravenclaw," she suggested. "I believe both of his parents were in Ravenclaw."

"No, he will remain in Slytherin," Severus said, as if scandalized by the very idea.

"Be reasonable, Severus. It's not as though I suggested he be put in Gryffindor. You can't honestly think that it's healthy for a boy that age to be all alone like that. I'm sure he would fit in Ravenclaw quite well. There aren't even any first year Slytherin girls this year."

"That doesn't mean we need to just pass him off to Ravenclaw," Severus said.

"If you're worried about him being isolated, you could always put him in the dormitory with the second years," Draco suggested.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," McGonagall said. "It may not mean much now, but the age difference may be harder to deal with when the boys hit puberty."

_Well, that was something Harry would rather not hear McGonagall talking about._ He started piling some potatoes on his plate.

"Besides," Severus said. "There are seven second year Slytherins. I see no reason to pack the boys in like sardines."

"Split them up then," Draco suggested. "Stick a couple of the second years in the first years' dormitory."

"They're pretty close knit," Severus said. "I doubt they would want to."

Harry, who had been eating his potatoes instead of participating in the argument up until that point, said, "Why is it bad that the kid gets a room to himself? Obviously, he wants to be in Slytherin, even if it meant that he would be the only one. If he didn't, the sorting hat would have put him somewhere else." Harry licked off his fork. "Besides, you're all missing the positive side to all of this."

"And what's that, Potter?" Draco asked, clearly expecting some slight to his house.

"If there's only one Slytherin, we can schedule all of his lessons as doubles with the other houses, and that's three less classes I have to teach every week."

Severus chuckled, placing that hand back on Harry's shoulder again. "It's good to know that at least one of you has their priorities straight." Severus drank some pumpkin juice. "It should really be up to Mr. Warrick if he wishes to change houses, in any case. If he has no problem being the only Slytherin first year, I see no reason why he should not be allowed to remain as he is, as much as you may wish to eradicate my house all together, Minerva."

"That's not what I said," Minerva protested. "I am simply concerned for the boy's well being."

"We'll all keep an eye on him to make sure that he's adjusting," Harry said. "There's no need to worry. I'm sure that Slughorn will notice if it's going to be a problem."

Harry glanced down at Damian Warrick. He was grinning widely, stuffing his face, and chatting with a couple of the Slytherin fifth years. Somehow, Harry didn't think that Damian was particularly bothered about being the only new Slytherin. Harry was a little concerned about the character of a boy who would want to be in Slytherin after the events of the past year, especially if McGonagall was right about both of his parents being in Ravenclaw, but Harry had long since abandoned his prejudices about his rival house. The Slytherin sitting next to him was one of the bravest and most noble men he had ever met, so it did not do to hold with all the Slytherin stereotypes. But, just because he no longer believed them, did not mean that they didn't exist, and any boy who would want to be in Slytherin with those stereotypes in mind must either be more enlightened than the average eleven year old, or he must want to embody those stereotypes. Either way, Harry would keep a close eye on him.

Severus kept shooting odd glances at Harry all through dinner, and Harry was about to ask him what was up when he finally said something.

"Can I walk you to your rooms after dinner?" He asked, not quite making eye contact. "There's something I wanted to discuss with you."

"Of course." Harry's stomach did a little flip at the thought of Severus actively seeking out his company. "But, don't you have all kinds of headmastery things to do?"

"Not really. Minerva is much too meddling and bureaucratic to allow me to make the last minute schedule changes, and the prefects and house heads make sure that the new students get to where they need to be and get settled in. So, unless Minerva decides to have another round over the Warrick kid, I should be free until the general chaos starts tomorrow."

Severus was moving around bits of banana cream pie on his plate with the tip of his fork. For some reason, this stuck Harry as incredibly endearing. Severus Snape did not seem like the kind of man to play with his food.

"I guess that puts you entirely at my disposal then," Harry said, smirking around his fork- which didn't actually have anything on it, but somehow just seemed to belong in his mouth at that particular moment.

Severus looked up at him, a look of dawning understanding on his face, but he quickly schooled his expression back to neutrality and returned to moving his pie about.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked a half hour later when they were alone in the hallway.

Severus glanced ahead, where a group of older Hufflepuffs were talking quietly at the bottom of the stairwell. "Not just yet. Wait until we get somewhere more private."

"What's going on?" Harry asked. _He was starting to worry over all the cloak and dagger stuff. _"Does this have to do with those three missing deatheaters?"

"What? No!" _That was the furthest thing from Severus' mind. _

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and the Hufflepuffs fled off down the corridor.

"Tell me, Severus, do all of the students run away from you?" Harry asked as they ascended the stairs.

"I'll have you know," Severus said. "The Slytherins quite like me."

"Hunh, I suppose that they do," Harry said. "I never really thought about it like that."

"Well, see, there you are," Severus said. "Are those new robes?" he asked, glancing over as they reached the second floor landing.

"Yes, do you like them? I got them today; I didn't think that it would do to be teaching in jeans and a t-shirt."

"Is that what you call them? The muggle trousers?" Severus asked, suddenly interested.

"Jeans?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The blue ones?"

Harry nodded.

"Ah, yes." Severus mentally shook himself. "The new robes are very nice. They make you look more professional."

"Thank you," Harry said, blushing a little. They had reached the third floor now. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm not quite sure where to start," Severus said, "but I'll try."

He paused, trying to compose all of his thoughts into something cohesive that wouldn't sound completely stupid. He was pretty sure that he failed, but he tried it anyway. "I loved your mother, Harry. I really did. She was my best friend, my only real friend in the whole world, and then, in a moment of anger, I said something that I shouldn't have, and I threw it all away. When she started dating your father, there wasn't much chance of the two of us patching things up. I suppose that you know most of this by now anyway, but I want to remind you where I'm coming from."

They had reached Harry's door then, and Severus turned to face him. "I protected you all of these years out of love for your mother, but I treated you the way that I did out of hatred for your father, and that wasn't fair."

"Snape, I…" Harry wanted to reassure him somehow, but didn't know what to say.

"Don't interrupt. Please, just let me finish." Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "It was unfair the way that I treated you, and I want to apologize." Severus dropped his hand. "The last couple of months I've realized that I misjudged you, and I'm proud of the man that you've become, in spite of the way that I treated you." Harry was giving him a peculiar look, and Severus hurried on. "Anyway, I was speaking with Draco this morning, and… He said that maybe you… And it started me thinking…Because Lately I've… I don't know how to say this. I'm not particularly good at this sort of thing."

"Maybe you should just say it," Harry said. He was frowning now.

Severus bit his lip and took a deep breath through his nose. He opened his mouth to speak again and then closed it again, eyes darting back and forth. He reached a hand out to cup Harry's jaw, and then he leaned in to brush his lips gently against Harry's.

Harry was completely taken aback. As much as he had been hoping for this over the last two years, it had really been the last thing he'd been expecting. It took a second for instinct to kick in, and then he was pulling Severus close, wrapping his arms around Severus' waist, and kissing him back.

Severus wrapped his left hand around Harry's back, threading his fingers through Harry's hair. He was completely lost in the moment. He brushed his tongue across Harry's closed lips until the other man granted him access to his mouth, but before Severus could take full advantage Harry's tongue was in his mouth, and he could feel the moan from the other man reverberating through his whole body.

"Geez, get a room you two," Greggory said, swinging open to let them in.

Harry stepped away, smiling and wiping the back of his wrist against his lips. "That was unexpected."

Severus flushed a little. "Yes, well, Draco led me to believe that it's what you wanted, and I couldn't seem to actually get the words out."

"I think I liked your way better. Did you want to come in? It looks like we finally figured out a way to get Greg to let us in, without threatening him."

Severus looked longingly into Harry's quarters. "I would love to, but I'm not sure it would be appropriate just now." He reached a hand out to brush it against Harry's cheek. "Will you join me for a drink in my quarters tomorrow after class? I would feel better considering the logistics of this whole thing, after you've had twenty-four hours to think it over and be sure it's what you want."

"I've had two years to think it over, and I'm sure," Harry said.

"Fine," Severus conceded. "I will feel better equipped after I have a day to get my libido in check."

"A whole day?" Harry smirked.

"Goodnight Potter," Severus said. He leaned in and kissed Harry again, pulling back before Harry could deepen the kiss.

"Night," Harry answered, all but pouting as he went inside and let the portrait close behind him.

"You totally could have hit that," Greggory said, when the portrait closed. "You're such an idiot."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I hope that met with everyone's approval. Hit the button and tell me what you think.


	9. Mother's Little Helper

Author's Note: Sorry that it's been so long between updates; I've been busy with school. The rating has been upped for this chapter, so that should make most of you happy. If you don't like that sort of thing, I'm not sure why you're reading this, but you can just skip over that part.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by The Rolling Stones.

Give Me Life

Chapter Nine

Mother's Little Helper

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry awoke around six feeling restless and anxious. He tried to go back to sleep and get that last hour of shut-eye that he had been planning, but he didn't have much luck. Finally, Harry gave up at quarter to seven and trudged his way to the shower.

He wore his new blue robes. They were midnight blue with silver trim, and a little more whimsical than Harry was generally wont to lean; Dumbledore would have liked them. Harry just liked the fabric. He'd never worn silk before. The raw silk felt like a caress against his skin, and he'd instantly fallen in love with the fabric. He combed his hair, not that there was much point, and left for breakfast.

"Morning, Potter," Greggory said as Harry walked by.

Harry spun around. "What?"

"Good Morning," Greggory said, speaking very slowly. He was sitting at the desk in his painting, with one foot propped up on top of it, painting his toenails with sparkly pink nail varnish.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

Greggory tipped precariously onto two legs of his chair as he switched to the other foot. "I'm painting my toenails. What does it look like?"

"Right," Harry said. "I guess what I really want to know is why you're painting your toenails sparkly pink."

"Mostly just to piss off Bertram, but also because it makes my toes look pretty." He wiggled them a little to demonstrate.

"Because you share the toes?"

"Sharp one, you are."

Harry shrugged. "I'm just trying to find the logic."

"I'm amusing myself. That's the point. You try being confined to a series of connected paintings for a day, and see how you like it."

"So you're motivated purely out of boredom?"

"And the slight high I get from inhaling the fumes."

Harry snorted.

"Weren't you going somewhere?" Greggory asked, back to his normal abrasive self.

"Yes, but then you wished me a good morning."

"Is that in some way unacceptable? Have I damaged your fragile mental state?"

"_My_ fragile mental state? You're one to talk!" Harry said, just as it dawned on him how ridiculous it was that he was arguing with a portrait. "I'm just trying to find the logic again."

"The answer's the same as before. I'm motivated purely out of boredom." Greggory leaned forward to blow on his toes, wobbling the chair.

"In what way does being nice to me alleviate your boredom?"

"You're right. It doesn't, but your budding relationship with the headmaster is interesting. Therefore, it's in my best interest to keep you around to amuse me. Besides, around here good gossip is as good as currency, so your late night interlude has made me a rich man."

"What?" Harry turned red at the thought that news of his kiss with Severus was spreading around the castle like wildfire.

Greggory just smirked at him.

"So help me, Greg. If anyone finds out about…"

Greggory cut him off. "Oh, relax Potter. Don't get your knickers in a twist. It's not the sort of thing that gets passed around to the students. Your old house marm's not too pleased though, so I'd avoid Gryffindor tower all together if I were you."

"You're evil."

Greggory shrugged. "It's interesting that you don't want anyone to find out. Are you worried about what they'll think?"

"No," Harry hissed. "I'm worried about what Severus will think. We haven't even talked about this yet."

"Well, let me know when you do," Greggory said. "I have a bet going with Albus."

"Dumbledore?" Harry paled. "You didn't!"

Greggory shrugged again. "Bored and evil, remember?"

Harry clenched his fists. "I'm going to breakfast. I'll be back when I can deal with your better half." Harry stalked away down the hall, still fuming.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry plopped down into what was fast becoming his regular seat, between Severus and Draco, when he finally made it down to breakfast.

"Morning guys," Harry said, piling his plate with scrambled eggs and sausages.

"Did you sleep well?" Severus asked, not making eye contact.

"Not particularly," Harry answered. "You?"

"Not really," Severus pulled a potion vial from his pocket and set it on the table in front of Harry. "I made this for you."

Harry unstoppered the bottle and sniffed at the potion inside. "What is it?"

"It's a calming draught; you should know that Potter." Severus said. "You asked me the other day how I made it through my first year. That's your answer. Just add a few drops to whatever you're drinking. I made a whole cauldron, so just let me know when you want more."

Harry smiled. "Thanks." He put the stopper back on and slipped the vial into his pocket.

"McGonagall came by earlier with the schedules. I took the liberty of securing yours." Severus handed him a folded piece of parchment.

"What do you have, Potter?" Draco asked, leaning forward to look over Harry's shoulder as he unfolded his schedule.

"Um," Harry said, looking at his classes for Monday. "I have my N.E.W.T. class and the fourth year Slytherins and Gryffindors before lunch, and I have the first years after lunch: doubles with the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, then Ravenclaws and Slytherins.

"Slytherin," Draco corrected.

"Yes, Slytherin," Harry admitted. "What do you have, Malfoy?"

"Advanced Flight with the second years in the morning, then, after lunch, I have Quidditch tactics and beginning flight with the first years" he recited from memory. "I guess I get the first years right after you. Why does that not seem like the best scheduling arrangement to me?"

"What, you think I'm going to ruin them before you get the chance to?"

"Probably," Draco said. "So, are you up for that rematch tonight? I think I've finally managed to get all the kinks worked out of my broom."

Harry smiled as Severus nudged him with his leg under the table. "Not tonight. I have plans. How about tomorrow night instead?"

Draco shrugged. "Tomorrow night then, after dinner?"

Harry nodded. "Sounds good."

He wasn't feeling particularly hungry; his nerves had his stomach twisted up in knots. A quick glance of the Great Hall didn't help matters much. The sea of students chatting loudly at the tables faded into a sound like crashing waves, and Harry felt a little woozy just looking at them all. He added a few drops of Severus' potion to his tea and downed it quickly. It left a warm tingly feeling as the liquid flowed down his throat. It was kind of nice.

"You'll do fine," Severus whispered in his ear. "Chances are that the students won't be trying to kill you, at least not on the first day, so that has to be an improvement from your usual working environment."

"You know, you're not at all reassuring," Harry said, pitching his voice lower. "Also, you should probably know that my psychotic portrait has a bet going with Dumbledore."

"What sort of bet?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but it has to do with the two of us, and knowing Dumbledore…"

Severus scowled. "Meddlesome, annoying, old fool," he muttered.

"Yeah, that was my general opinion."

"I will have a word with him."

"That might not be the best idea either," Harry said. "There's a good chance that he knows about what happened last night. Apparently, Greg has a big mouth."

Severus ground his teeth.

"Again," Harry said, "that was my general opinion."

Severus shut his eyes closed tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though, if he tried hard enough, he could make the whole thing go away.

"Relax, it's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to spend the next eight hours in an office with him. I thought he was twinkling extra malevolently this morning."

Harry laughed. "I'm not sure that it's possible to twinkle malevolently."

"Albus is a very powerful wizard. He's capable of all sorts of things. Not that his precious golden boy would know anything about that."

Harry frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That he shielded you from certain aspects of his personality. Don't get me wrong. The man was like a father to me, but some days I didn't know which was worse: Voldemort's complete lack of morality and remorse, or Albus' skewed ethics."

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned.

Severus shook his head. "Never mind; it doesn't matter anymore." He stood up from the table. "I have to get going anyway; I have work to do."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry sat at his desk, watching the students file in with increasing terror. He added a few drops of Severus' potion to the glass of water on his desk and drank most of it in one gulp. The warm tingling returned, and he felt himself relax. He recognized almost all of the thirty-two students in his upper level N.E.W.T. class; most of them had been in the D.A., and he was intensely grateful that this was his first class.

Ginny was smiling at him encouragingly, and all of his students had arrived, so he took that as his cue to begin.

He stood behind his desk, hands placed firmly on the wood so that no one would notice the slight tremble.

"Um, okay, so… I'm Professor Potter, but I'm sure that most of you already know that, and if you just want to call me Harry, that's fine too.

"I have something kind of fun for the first day, before we have to start trudging through the N.E.W.T. material to prepare for exams. If you can all turn to chapter twelve in your textbook, you'll find a list of spells dealing with dark magic detection. I've placed dark spells on twenty or thirty objects in this room." Harry gestured around at the many books, trinkets, and souvenirs on the shelves lining the walls. "I want you to form groups and use the spells on page 156 to find as many enchanted objects as possible. When you locate an object, write down what it is, and put it back where you found it. You can also use the devices in the boxes against the back wall. Please only take one box per group. Find as many objects as you can; the group that successfully identifies the most objects wins a prize. And I promise it will be a good one, so give it your best shot. I'll meander around and check on everyone's progress, so please feel free to ask questions."

There was a lot of commotion as the students formed groups and gathered their boxes of instruments, and then it got very quiet as they all took a moment to read through the text and analyze how best to proceed. Harry noticed immediately that the students formed groups from members of their own house, and each group played to the strengths generally associated with that house.

Ginny's group was the first to start. Their strategy was to use the sneakoscopes to scan the shelves until they found a "hot spot" and then they would use a spell to check each item in the area individually until they found the one that was enchanted.

The Ravenclaw group found a spell that should show them exactly where all the cursed items were, but they were having a hard time getting it to work.

The Hufflepuff's were reading through the text and learning how to use all of the detection gadgets before they even started to look for the cursed items.

The three Slytherins in his class had formed a group by themselves rather than mixing with the other houses, and they were visiting the areas that the Gryffindors had already been to check for items.

Harry went around the room checking on each of the groups' progress, answering questions, and covertly adding spells to the students' own belongings. He put a static shocking spell on Ginny's handbag, charmed one of the Ravenclaws' quills to leak ink stains on his fingers, spelled one of the Slytherins' robes to catch on the furniture, and enchanted his own left boot to squeak when he walked. These were all things that would occur on a regular basis anyway, and he had only added the barest touch of black magic to the spells. He would give generous amounts of house points to any team that identified any of these items. It took a special kind of person to find evil in the everyday mundane, especially when they weren't specifically looking for it.

In the end, the Ravenclaws' persistence paid off, and they managed to master their spell in the last fifteen minutes of class and identified almost all of the cursed objects. They won themselves ten house points and a week off from homework, though Harry allowed them to do it for extra credit if they wanted to. Gryffindor came in at a close second. Slytherin third, but they earned themselves twenty house points by identifying two of Harry's special objects. Hufflepuff came in last, but they were able to use all of the devices in their box by the end of class.

Ginny hung back at the end of class to tell Harry that he was doing a good job, and they talked about Quidditch for a few minutes before she had to rush to her next class; she was captain of the Gryffindor team this year, and Harry was looking forward to the first match of the season.

For his fourth years' class, Harry spent the hour giving an account of the war from his perspective and answering questions. The students had been too young to participate at the time, and they were all curious as to what exactly had happened: the real story without any ministry spin on it.

By the time Harry cleaned up after his N.E.W.T. students, who had rather effectively ransacked his classroom, finished removing the curses from his belongings, and made it down to lunch he was ready for another dose of Severus' potion.

He downed it just as the man himself entered the Great Hall. Harry admired the elegant way that Severus strode across the hall. Harry himself had never quite been able to master the whole imposing elegance thing; the most he could hope to manage was a kind of athletic saunter, but even then he felt foolish. Severus sat in his customary seat and filled his goblet with ice water from the pitcher before him.

"How are you holding up?" he asked in that velvet smooth voice that sent shivers down Harry's spine.

He shrugged. "I think I'm doing alright. I haven't killed anyone yet."

"Well, you have one up on Draco then."

"What?"

Severus brushed off Harry's surprise. "I exaggerate of course, but one of his second years fell off of her broom and had to be sent to the infirmary."

"Oh," Harry smiled a little. "That's alright then. What about you? How's the start of term treating you?" Harry felt odd talking to Severus now with so much up in the air. Severus had kissed him, and, apparently, now every portrait in the school knew about it. Harry wasn't quite sure where he stood in regard to Severus, but he felt uncomfortable just sitting here making chit chat when there were so many more important things to talk about.

"I'm buried hip deep in paperwork at the moment," Severus answered, the curl of his lip somehow managing to appear licentious.

"Want me to dig you out?" Harry leaned over to whisper in his ear.

Severus smirked. "One step at a time, Mister Potter, it doesn't do to be overeager."

Harry leaned in closer still, his lips less than an inch from Severus' ear. "Perhaps you could teach me a lesson."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, would you two just get a room already!" Draco said, just loud enough for the three of them to hear, as he arrived at lunch.

Harry's head snapped up to look at Draco, and his cheeks turned a bright red. Severus just looked at Draco with disdain.

Draco raised his eyebrows at so mild a reaction from his godfather. He would have expected a scowl or a well aimed backhand at the very least. _Unless… _Draco smirked. "You have, haven't you?" Draco sat down next to Harry, who refused to meet his eyes. "Well it's about time. Did you finally jump him, Potter?"

Harry's eyes widened. "I…er, no he…um…"

"Articulate as ever," Severus muttered. "What Harry means is that it's none of your business, Draco, and perhaps if you paid more attention to your students and less attention to romantic matchmaking schemes, none of your students would be in the Hospital Wing."

"It was only one student, and a Hufflepuff at that, and it was only a broken bone; she's probably already mended and down there eating lunch."

Harry snickered. "At least I didn't send any of mine to the infirmary."

"Yeah, mighty dangerous, that lecturing," Draco scoffed.

"I hardly lectured at all," Harry protested.

"Besides," Severus added, "any room that contains Ginny Weasley and a wand can be fairly deemed a hazardous working environment."

"See there, er…" Harry paused, not quite sure if he should be defending Ginny or not.

"I simply mean that she's a powerful witch who may or may not have it in for you. I've seen plenty of her handiwork, and one misplaced curse, accidental or otherwise, could easily send _you_ to the hospital wing."

"She doesn't have it in for me," Harry protested. "And I can take Ginny Weasley."

"No, Mr. Potter. I think your luck has finally run out."

"Would you like me to give evidence to the contrary?"

From the slight gleam in Harry's eyes, Severus deduced that the answer to that question was definitely no.

"Hey, wait a minute," Draco broke in. "Stop changing the subject. Did you two finally shag or not?"

"Not," Severus answered.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "It's something… If you won't tell me, Potter will."

"Mind your own business, Malfoy."

"If there wasn't something going on, you'd both be looking embarrassed instead of telling me to sod off."

"I think that all that peroxide is damaging your brain cells, Malfoy. You're clearly delusional," Harry said.

"I do not bleach my hair, Potter!"

"He doesn't," Severus affirmed. "He's just naturally that stupid."

"You try to do something nice for someone, and it just bites you in the arse," Draco muttered. "Fine, don't tell me. I don't care anyway."

"Don't pout, Draco."

Draco scowled at him, stood, grabbed a sandwich off the platter on the table, and left.

"That was kind of mean," Harry said, laughing just the same.

"That's what he gets for meddling."

Harry shrugged. "We should probably thank him."

"I already ordered him an expensive bottle of scotch, but that still doesn't give him the right to stick his nose where it doesn't belong. And don't get ahead of yourself, Potter; I'm still not sure that this is such a good idea."

"But it's not against the rules," Harry protested. After the kiss last night, it had never occurred to Harry that Severus might not wish to pursue things further.

"Now's neither the time nor the place," Severus said as Minerva took her seat on his other side. "We can discuss it further tonight."

Harry frowned. "Yeah, okay, whatever, I better get ready for my next class anyway." With that, he stood and left, feeling deflated.

"What was that all about?" Minerva asked after Harry had left.

"Hunh?" Severus was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to comprehend the question right away. "Oh,… Harry wants to start a dueling club."

"Well, why should that be against school rules?"

"It isn't, but I'm not sure that it's such a good idea."

"Well, I don't see why not."

"Some people look down on that sort of thing."

"Since when do you care what other people think?" Minerva asked. "It seems like the sort of thing you would want to start."

"I do," Severus said after a moment, wondering if he was taking this a bit too far. "But I'm not sure that Harry realizes what he is getting himself into."

"Harry's an adult now, Severus; you can't protect him forever. He needs to decide these sorts of things for himself."

"I haven't made up my mind yet," Severus said. "We're going to discuss it at length this evening."

Minerva shrugged. "As you like, but, I say, if Harry wants it, let him have it. See how much he can handle."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"You know what the greatest weapon a wizard has in battle is?" It was his last class of the day, and he'd already been lecturing for almost an hour. Harry was ready for the day to be over; he needed to talk to Severus, but the hands on the clock were being stubborn. "It's not his wand or even his wits."

The students all looked around the room, not daring to make eye contact for fear of being called upon.

"It's luck, pure and simple. The most powerful wizard can be overcome by a little bad luck, while, at the same time, even the most hapless sap can get lucky."

There was a little stifled laughter at his choice of words, and Harry smiled indulgently.

"That being said, we each make our own luck, and through the duration of this course I'm going to teach all of you how to get lucky." He put extra emphasis on the phrase, and this time the laughter wasn't so subdued.

"Mr. Warrick?" Harry asked, and the entire class looked over at the sole Slytherin sitting at a table by himself.

"Do you feel lucky Mr. Warrick?"

"Beg pardon, sir?"

"It's a simple question, Mr. Warrick. Do you feel lucky, or not?"

"Er," Damian looked confused. "Not particularly, sir."

"Understandable," Harry shrugged. "How does it feel being the only Slytherin?"

"Peaceful."

"Enjoy having a dormitory all to yourself, do you?"

"Yes sir," Damian answered. "I have four brothers at home; it's nice to be alone for once."

"I'm an only child myself, but I can appreciate the sentiment. One of my best friends has five older brothers, and, after spending the week with them, I crave a little peace and quiet." Harry deliberately left Ginny out of the picture. "This friend of mine, he didn't feel very lucky either. He was on the Gryffindor house Quidditch team with me, played keeper, and he was pretty good at it too. Until he got nervous, then you could score on him with a beach ball. He would play fine in practice, but then he would choke whenever we had a match."

The students were getting into the story now, humoring smirks on their faces; they obviously thought that Harry was going to be one of those teachers who continually went off on random tangents. And who knows? Maybe he would be, but he had a specific purpose today.

"So we had the first match of the season coming up, against Slytherin no less, and he had been playing pretty rubbish at practice. I was the team captain, and I wasn't about to let my friend lose the match for us, but he was my friend, and I wasn't about to kick him off the team either. Professor Malfoy, played my position, Seeker, for the Slytherin team, and he was my sworn enemy, so there was absolutely no way that I was just going to sit back and let them win because my Keeper couldn't keep his cool either. I needed a plan, and it had to be a good one too**. **So, I decided to give my friend a little luck.

"I had won a vial of felix felicis in my N.E.W.T. potions class a number of weeks earlier. The potion is often called bottled luck, and it gives the drinker one day of really good luck. So, right before the big game, I let my friend see me pouring some of the felix into his morning pumpkin juice.

"He didn't miss a single block. We slaughtered Slytherin, I captured the snitch, my friend got some well earned spotlight, we generally saved the free world, and went home celebrating. Now, the really remarkable thing is that I never wasted a single drop of felix felicis on something as frivolous as a Quidditch match- it would be cheating anyway. What I did was to let my friend think that I had given him a little help, when all I had really done was to give him the confidence he needed to do what he was capable of all along. He made his own luck." Harry smiled at his raptly listening students; he could definitely learn to like this teaching gig.

"Tell you what; I'm ready to get out of here. If all of you promise to read chapter one and take notes, you can leave a few minutes early."

The students were plenty pleased with that idea, and Harry gladly watched them gather their things and begin to file out.

Harry was busy gathering up his own things, and he didn't notice right away that Damian Warrick had lagged behind.

"Did you need something, Mr. Warrick?" Harry asked when he turned to leave and came face to face with his student.

"Sir, there's something wrong with your shoe. It's making a sound like you've stepped on a mouse, and it feels…" he paused, uncertain of how to put it, "…wrong."

"Oh," Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He pointed his wand at his left boot. "Finite incantatum. A little left over curse from an earlier class. Thank you. I probably wouldn't have noticed for a couple of days. I'd end up walking down the hallway wondering why my boot was squeaking."

"You cursed your own shoe?"

"I was teaching my N.E.W.T. students how to use spells and magical devices to detect black magic, but you're the only one to notice the shoe." Harry frowned. "How did you…?"

Damian shrugged. "It just felt bad, evil, like it wanted to hurt you." He shrugged again, a little sheepishly. "Sometimes I can just tell things like that. The castle feels warm and friendly. The Sorting Hat was bright and," he looked for the right word again, "…chittery."

Harry furrowed his brow. "Interesting. Well, I gave my N.E.W.T. students ten points each for the four special objects that I cursed. My boot was one of them, so I guess you just earned yourself ten house points."

Damian grinned, "Really?"

"Don't get too excited. If you don't hurry along, Professor Malfoy will just take them right back."

"Oh crap! I'm going to be late." He glanced at his watch, shouldered his bag, and started on his way out.

"Mr. Warrick," Harry called before he got out the door. "Can I ask you a question?"

Damian nodded, still backing towards the door.

"Why did you want to be in Slytherin?"

Damian stopped. "I guess, because no one else did." He shrugged, and turned to go again. "See you later, prof."

Harry just chuckled after him. He could hardly remember being that young and optimistic- completely in awe of this strange new world that he'd found himself thrust into. He finished gathering his things together, starting to feel more and more curious about the Warrick kid. The boy was such an anomaly, and the thing about being able to feel the castle seemed like complete bollocks, but he'd known about the curse on Harry's shoe, and, after what Severus had told him about the castle yesterday morning, it made a kind of sense.

Harry tried to sense the castle himself. He brought forward his memories of Hogwarts and cast about for the magical signatures that Severus was talking about. He thought he felt something: a kind of fuzzy magical tingling in his chest. It was similar to the residual feelings that he'd had after Severus had shown him the proper way to cast a stunning spell three years ago. It was warm and comfortable. Harry wondered if it was what love felt like, because that was definitely the day that he had first started to fall in love with Severus: up in that dusty old bedroom with its grubby wardrobe and moth-eaten curtains. But he was being foolish and sentimental, and it was probably all in his head. He went up the stairs to his office to put his papers away, but he couldn't quite shake that feeling in his chest.

xXxXxXxXxXx

He was fidgeting at dinner. Severus' potion was almost gone, and Harry was reluctant to take any more of it in any case. He didn't know if there were any addictive qualities to the potion, but he didn't want to become dependent. His fingers thrummed loudly against the table, and his eyes kept a careful watch over the doors, waiting for the black robed man currently occupying his thoughts.

Harry just wanted to get dinner over with so that he could talk to Severus properly and find out the fate of their possible relationship. This not knowing was absolutely awful. He would rather outright rejection to all this indecision. Well… maybe not, but it was still a horrible kind of anticipation- something like watching the gallows being erected for your own execution.

It was an eternity of waiting before Severus finally strode through the doors. The residual tingle of warmth from his earlier probe of the castle was a slight comfort, but he felt like the thrumming of his fingers was wearing grooves into the table.

Severus frowned at him as he sat down, taking in Harry's somewhat grave demeanor. "Are you alright, Harry?" he asked, scanning him over to check for any physical manifestations of whatever was ailing him. "What's wrong?"

Harry looked up, eyes wide at being found out. "Nothing," he stammered. "I was just thinking."

"I realize that it's a struggle for you Potter, but, really, you look like you're going to be sick."

"I feel like I'm awaiting the firing squad."

Severus' frown deepened, "How's that?"

Harry shook his head. "Never mind," he pushed his plate away. "Anyway, I'm not very hungry."

Suddenly a cool hand was pressed against his forehead, and Harry's heart skipped a beat. "You don't have a fever," Severus said finally, removing his hand.

"No, I'm not ill. It's just…" Harry looked down at his hands; at some point his fingers had started their thrumming again. Severus placed his hand over Harry's to make them stop, and he held it there until Harry met his eyes.

"Tell me what is bothering you," he commanded in a deliberate quiet tone.

Harry licked his lips uncertainly. "I thought that this was neither the time nor the place."

Severus' frown disappeared, and it was replaced with a raised eyebrow and an amused look of apprehension. "Oh, is that what this is all about?"

"What did you think?"

"I thought it was something serious."

"This is serious," Harry snapped.

Severus nodded. "Of course, but I was expecting something more dire. Would you like to have dinner sent to my office; we could talk there."

"Yes," Harry rose to his feet quickly, jumping on the chance to get out of the crowded hall. Severus moved more slowly, bending over to whisper in McGonagall's ear, excusing his absence. Then he walked with Harry out of the hall.

Minerva wondered why Harry was so upset about a simple dueling club.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus wouldn't talk to Harry until they were secured in his office with the door closed. Dinner was already waiting for them on the side board when they arrived. Severus swished around behind his desk, removing his outer robe and laying it across his chair as he poured himself a goblet of water.

"Well, you're here now. What do you want to talk about first?"

Harry shook his head. He moved back around Severus' desk to stand facing him, and, cupping Severus' jaw with one hand and placing the other on his hip, stretched to press his lips against Severus' in a chaste kiss. It was brief, and somewhat one sided, but it was the second best kiss of his life- to be judged only against the one they'd shared last night.

"I just wanted one more kiss before you tell me that you never want to talk to me again."

"You can be rather annoying, but never speaking to you again is taking it a little far, don't you think?"

"You said that this was a bad idea," Harry said.

"And, so it is, but it has been brought to my attention that you are an adult now, fully entitled to make his own mistakes, and that I can't protect you from everything."

"So…" Harry frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if you are sure that this is what you want, I won't put a stop to it. I'm not sure that I could deny you anyway; my self-control isn't very strong around you for some reason. But, be absolutely sure that this is what you want. Really think it through."

"Of course it's what I want. But…" Harry looked away.

"What?" Severus prodded. "If we're going to do this, we should be honest and straightforward with each other from the start."

"Does this have anything to do with my mother?" Harry asked reluctantly. "I mean… I know that you loved her and that that's why you've been looking out for me, but the reason that you want to be with me isn't because you're substituting me for her, is it?"

Severus was a little put off that the idea had even occurred to Harry. "Absolutely not, I want to be with you because of the man you've become. The way I felt about your mother is what changed the course of history enough for that to happen, and for that I'm eternally grateful, but it has nothing to do with how I feel about you." Harry seemed to judge this as a satisfactory answer, so Severus asked a question of his own. "What about you? I'm twice your age. This isn't just your way of working out your daddy issues is it?"

Harry looked disgusted.

"Good, save that shit for Black and Lupin. I'm not going to conceal my dislike for James either, so don't expect it."

"I'm not." Harry was so relieved that Severus wasn't turning him away that he wasn't going to argue about the conditions.

"It's up to you where we go with this," Severus said after a minute. "Are you merely looking for a physical relationship, or is there more to it?"

"Much more," Harry said quickly, and Severus was relieved. "You're the only person who sees me for what I really am, faults and all, and I want that."

"So, I suppose you'll be expecting me to take you on dates then?"

"Well… you don't have to," Harry said, but he sounded disappointed.

"Honest and straightforward, remember Potter, that's the only way this is going to work."

"Then, yes I want dates."

"How often?" Severus asked. "Please, sit down." Severus took a seat in his desk chair, and Harry looked around for a moment before perching on the edge of the desk, draping one leg on each side of Severus' lap. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but, if I'm going to be dating a Gryffindor, I suppose I'd better get used to that sort of thing." He reached out and put one hand on either side of Harry's waist.

"I suppose you should." Harry reveled in the physical contact.

"So how many dates are we talking here?" Severus asked. "Give me a number per month, so that I know what it is you're expecting from me."

"Four?" Harry asked hopefully.

"That's once a week."

"Fine then, three," Harry conceded.

"We work together, eat together, and live across the hall from each other. Exactly how long do you think that it's going to take before you get tired of my company?"

"Never."

"Every other week."

"Plus holidays," Harry threw in.

"Acceptable," Severus nodded his head. "How discreet do you want to be? We won't be able to hide it from Draco, and the staff probably has their suspicions already, but I see no reason why the students would notice anything- as long as we're careful. Ultimately it's your image; if the Daily Prophet catches wind of this, there could be trouble."

"You mean people won't like it when they hear that the golden boy takes it up the arse," Harry said bitterly.

"Don't be crude, and we hadn't gotten to that yet."

"You're planning on negotiating on sex?"

"Of course," Severus replied, as though this should have been expected. "But, what about media exposure? Are you comfortable having your personal life plastered across the headlines?"

Harry shrugged. "I should be used to it by now, but what about you? I would be dragging you into the public eye with me. You won't be a popular man; people will say things."

"I've never been a popular man, and it wouldn't be the worst thing that had ever been said about me. It wouldn't even be in the top ten."

"So what then?" Harry asked, not quite sure what they had decided. "We be as discreet as possible, but if the media finds out it won't be the worst thing that's ever happened to either one of us."

"Sounds like a decent plan." Severus had moved a little closer, and was rubbing lightly at the small of Harry's back with one hand. "What else?"

"What about weekends?" Harry asked, reaching out to brush his thumb across Severus' collar bone where it met his neck.

"Sunday mornings you may cook me breakfast and spend the afternoon in my quarters, if you wish." Severus offered.

"And Saturday evenings?" Harry asked, moving his hand across Severus' jaw and rubbing at the corner of his lips.

Severus' mouth twitched under Harry's fingers. "I could be persuaded."

Harry slid forward off the edge of the desk and into Severus' lap, knees planted on either side of Severus' hips. He sat up straight and leaned forward to kiss Severus again. The kiss was longer this time, more deliberate. Harry parted Severus' lips with the tip of his tongue, and deepened the kiss further, reaching behind Severus to grab the back of the chair for leverage as he lifted his hips and pressed himself against the other man.

Harry didn't want to break contact, but his lungs were screaming for air. He refused to listen, tilting his head to the side for better access. Finally, Severus forced them apart with a little shove against Harry's chest. They both took a second to catch their breath, and then Harry leaned forward again, pausing just as their lips were touching.

"I'm not negotiating for sex," Harry whispered, lips brushing against Severus'.

Severus grabbed Harry by the hips and pulled him forward so that their erections were pressed together. "I don't think that we need to negotiate."

Harry grinned and leaned in to kiss Severus again, but then he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he remembered where they were. "Could we move this to the bedroom? The portraits are watching us."

There was a slight cough from above them, and Albus Dumbledore's voice said. "Don't mind us."

Harry turned red and Severus turned green.

"How about yours," Severus suggested.

"Fine."

Harry's portrait swung open for them as they crossed the hall. He was just grateful that it was before nine. The last thing he wanted was to have to argue his way in or put up with any snide comments from Greggory. Bertram was much more accommodating.

Harry removed his outer robe as he strode across the threshold and tossed it on the sofa when he walked by. The tightness in his trousers was turning into a throbbing need, and he twined his fingers with Severus', pulling him towards the bedroom. He stopped just inside the door, having a little trouble removing his new dragonskin boots. Severus had already taken his off, and he was making himself comfortable against the pillows. Harry pulled off his inner robes so that he was wearing only his trousers, and walked over to the edge of the bed.

"Now, where were we?" he asked, biting his lower lip and crawling up onto the bed.

Severus grabbed Harry and pulled him forward into his lap. "I think we were right about here."

Harry grabbed the headboard over Severus' shoulder with his left hand and angled his hips up for better contact and Severus let out a guttural moan. "No, I think it was right about there."

Severus bucked his hips, flipping Harry back onto the bed, and he slid forward on top of him, pinning Harry to the mattress. He let out a moan as Severus' thigh pressed up in between his legs, and Severus silenced it with his mouth.

Harry fought desperately for some level of control, fumbling with the buttons on Severus' robes. "Harry." He thrust his hips up into Severus', another moan escaping his lips as Severus broke contact to speak again. "Harry, slow down."

"Need you," Harry moaned again. His eyes were heavy lidded with lust and he wasn't thinking straight. He just wanted to feel Severus' bare skin against his own.

"As you wish," Severus whispered in Harry's ear.

He swatted Harry's hands away and sat back so that he could unfasten the buttons himself. Harry propped himself up on his elbows and watched as Severus finished with the buttons and slid his robes off over his shoulders. His bare skin was lily white, but marred by a patchwork of curse scars. Harry leaned as far forward as he could with Severus' bulk straddling his lap and trailed his fingers from the base of Severus' neck down to his navel, following the line of one of the more prominent scars.

"Did _he _do this to you?" Harry asked; there was no doubt as to who he meant.

"Most of them," Severus answered, taking Harry's hand in both of his. "The Dark Lord didn't like to be disappointed."

Harry frowned, but didn't say anything. Instead he pulled Severus back down into another kiss. This time yesterday he never would have dreamed that this was even possible, but then Severus kissed him and changed everything. Harry couldn't imagine anything better, but then Severus started rubbing him through his trousers and he dissolved into a whole new level of nirvana.

When Harry started to moan and squirm under him, Severus pulled away. He leaned back against the headboard again, pulling Harry with him so that Harry's back was resting against his chest. He slipped one hand under the waistband of Harry's trousers, cupping his erection before slipping in his other hand and pulling Harry's trousers off entirely. Harry's breath was coming in ragged gasps now as he began stroking his lover. His long patient strokes were in such juxtaposition to Harry's burning need that they left him quivering.

Severus' bare body pressed against his, the hot puff of breath against the back of his neck, and the steady strokes were too much for Harry. He fought back against his release, wanting to prolong this perfect pleasure for as long as possible, but ultimately it was a losing battle.

"I need you to come now, Harry," Severus whispered into the cup of his ear, and just the sound of the man's voice would have been enough to send him over the edge.

Harry orgasmed with a gasp and a jerk of his body, collapsing back into Severus as he came all over the man's hand.

"I've never known you to be so obedient, Potter," Severus said in a low tone, the smile evident in his voice even though Harry couldn't see it.

Harry rolled his head back onto Severus' shoulder, looking up at him. "I know I said that I wasn't going to negotiate for sex, but you should definitely do that to me at least once a day."

"That could probably be arranged," Severus answered, wandlessly spelling his hand clean with a whispered incantation and then wrapping his arm around Harry's chest.

"Why do you still have your trousers on?" Harry asked when he was once more coherent enough to notice the texture of the fabric and the press of Severus' erection against his backside.

"You've yet to remove them," Severus answered, managing to sound calm despite what must be a pressing need for release.

"That could probably be arranged," Harry said, smirking as he threw Severus' words back at him.

Harry turned around so that he was facing Severus and inched down to mouth Severus' erection through his trousers before unbuttoning them with his teeth.

Severus relaxed back against the pillows watching Harry's raven head bob up and down in his lap. He let his eyes flutter closed as he relished the long absent sensation of a warm mouth enveloping him and a skilled tongue causing a moan to escape his lips, before he put a hand on Harry's shoulder to put a stop to it.

Harry looked up in confusion, and Severus smiled at him. He reached down and lightly brushed his fingers along Harry's renewed erection. "If you want a proper go, you'd better hold off on that. I'm not twenty anymore."

"Oh," Harry flushed.

Severus smiled at him; he really did like that color on Harry's cheeks. "Do you have lube?"

"Uh, yeah," Harry scratched at the back of his neck. "Just a second."

He enjoyed the view of Harry's naked backside as he went into the bathroom, and Severus took the opportunity to finish removing his trousers while Harry was gone.

Harry came back holding the bottle out to show him. "It's strawberry flavored," he admitted a little sheepishly as he handed it to Severus and climbed up on the bed.

Severus squirted some into his palm and sniffed at it, raising an eyebrow, and earned himself another flush from Harry. He smirked as he pushed Harry back against the pillows, kissing him as he spread the lube over his hand and slipped first one and then two fingers into the younger man.

Harry gasped into Severus' mouth and he tightened around the fingers for a moment before loosening with another gasp as Severus scissored them back and forth. He added a third finger for a moment and thrust them in and out slowly. Severus didn't know how much experience Harry had with this sort of thing, and he wanted to make sure that Harry was comfortable before he went any further. When Harry started to thrust into Severus' hand, Severus decided that he was sufficiently prepped. Harry made a little mewling noise as Severus removed his hand, but it turned into a deep moan as Severus replaced it with his cock.

He waited until he felt Harry relax around him and then pulled back slowly, hooking Harry's legs up over his shoulders as he closed the distance again. Harry let out a lust filled hiss as Severus brushed against his prostate. Severus adjusted his angle again so that he would hit that spot with each thrust, and that was about as much control as he could manage.

Severus finally let himself go; his breath came in throaty gasps as he thrust into Harry with wanton abandon. He buried his face into the crook of Harry's neck, not trusting himself to look at the boy; he wasn't going to last very long as it was.

He was relieved to feel Harry tense underneath him, and he held back his own release for a moment longer while Harry enjoyed his second orgasm before surrendering that last iota of control. He came with a grunt, collapsing against Harry, sticky and wet, in a tangle of limbs.

They laid there in silence for a moment, Severus catching his breath and Harry stroking the older man's hair.

"You should probably do that to me at least twice a day," Harry said finally.

Severus chuckled, and Harry thought it was one of the most wonderful sounds he'd ever heard.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: Right, so I didn't shy away from the sex scene that time. I generally have this awful habit of breaking off in the middle. I'm back to school now, so that might be the last chapter for another couple of weeks. I hope that it met with everyone's satisfaction. Please leave a contribution in the little box.


	10. I'm into Something Good

Author's Note: This is a little sooner than I was expecting. I had a few days off of school due to weather cancellations.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The song title is from Herman's Hermits.

Give Me Life

Chapter 10

I'm into Something Good

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry woke around midnight to the sound of his own stomach growling. He tried to remember the last time that he'd eaten and came up with… _Sunday night_? That couldn't possibly be right. He'd been too nervous about his first classes to eat breakfast, too angry with Severus to stick around at lunch, and too busy shagging to care about dinner. He was used to skipping meals, but a whole day was stretching it awfully far, even for him.

He disentangled himself from Severus, careful not to wake the sleeping man, slipped into his dressing gown, and padded his way into the kitchen for something to eat.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus awoke with a jolt alone in an unfamiliar bed, and it took a moment for him to attribute that to the string of hazy lustful memories floating around in his half-sleeping brain.

He could hardly believe his luck. A lifetime of disappointment and tragedy had colored his world view so much, that the very thought of ever being happy seemed absurd.

He wondered how long it would last.

Pulling his trousers back on, he wrapped a blanket around his bare shoulders and got out of bed to see where Harry had gotten to. Severus found him in the kitchen- half hidden behind the largest bowl of mashed potatoes he'd ever seen.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry said through a mouthful of potatoes. "Did I wake you with the blender?"

"What's a blender?" Severus asked, sitting down next to Harry at the table.

"Oh, right," Harry rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. "Wand… magic… cooking, I forgot again. I guess old habits die hard." Harry grinned. "Want some mashed potatoes? You must be hungry; you didn't eat dinner either."

How Potter could be so awake and cheerful in the middle of the night was quite beyond him, but the potatoes did smell good, and he was beginning to feel hungry, so he accepted the fork being pressed into his hand and took a bite of the mashed potatoes.

Amazingly, they managed to hold up to the standard of yesterday's cooking. They were creamy and buttery with just a hint of garlic and chives- everything mashed potatoes should be.

"If I had known that you could cook like this, perhaps I would have made a move sooner," Severus said, taking another scoop of mashed potatoes.

"That better be your idea of a joke."

Severus shrugged. "I don't know. These are pretty good, Potter."

"So what, you're just using me for my cooking ability?" Harry retorted.

"The sex was pretty good too," Severus said offhandedly.

Harry kicked his shin lightly under the table and Severus smirked.

"So where are you taking me on our date on Saturday?" Harry asked, sounding entirely too cheerful.

"I thought we'd already agreed on dinner," Severus said, taking another scoop of potatoes. "Though I can't see why you would want to eat out when you can cook like this."

"I don't like cooking all the time, and it's hard to enjoy a date if you're worried about what's in the oven." Harry mounded the potatoes on his side of the bowl with the back of his fork. "Where are you taking me after dinner?"

"Isn't dinner enough? What more do you want from me? You're the one with all the money; how about you take me out instead?"

"Just dinner doesn't generally constitute a proper date, and, besides, that dinner doesn't even count because you traded that for my hangover potion." Harry was beginning to move around to Severus' side of the bowl, continuing his potato sculpture. "As far as the check goes, I really don't mind paying for things. I have plenty of money, but I still want _you_ to take _me_ out. You know, pick the restaurants and things. It just seems more romantic that way."

Romance wasn't particularly Severus Snape's strong suit. The very idea of planning any kind of romantic outing seemed completely ludicrous- let alone a romantic outing to please Harry Potter."If this has anything to do with sexual positions, trust me, _that_ is subject to change."

Harry flushed crimson. "I hadn't really considered that line of reasoning. You're just more… worldly than I am. It only seems appropriate that you should be taking the lead role."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Worldy? Is that just a nice way of saying old?"

Harry shrugged. "It's not my fault that you're a dinosaur."

"I am not a dinosaur."

"Sure you are," Harry grinned. "But don't worry; I always liked dinosaurs. They're better than dragons: generally less wings and fire-breathing to worry about."

"I'm not that old," Severus growled. "I'm only forty-two."

"That's 294 in dog years."

"And, if I was one of your godparents that might have some relevance to this conversation. As I am not, I suggest that you refrain from making such random associations."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I was only kidding, lighten up already."

Severus scowled. "Fine. I'm old so I'm in charge, and I say that dinner is sufficient social interaction to constitute a date."

"No it isn't." Harry licked off his fork and set it down on the table. He leaned forward on his elbows, chin resting in his hands. "You need to take me to a movie or a concert afterwards."

Severus sighed. "It's the middle of the night and we have all week to talk about this." He put his own spoon down and rose wearily to his feet. "Come back to bed."

Harry banished the leftover potatoes with a flick of his wand, and Severus gave him a look like he'd just been morally offended. "Haven't you ever heard of a preservation spell, Potter?"

Harry shrugged. "I can make more. I can't have you ditching me for leftovers."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus woke again at 6:30 to the loud blaring of Harry's alarm clock.

"You have no idea how much I hate those things," he groaned, rolling onto his side and wrapping an arm around Harry's chest to pull him closer.

"Why, how do you wake up?"

"My curtains are charmed to open in the morning. The sun wakes me up."

"That doesn't seem very reliable," Harry said. "What if it's cloudy outside?"

"I'm a pretty light sleeper; It's never been a problem," Severus said. "I suppose that there's some noise when the curtains open, but it's subtle rather than that loud annoying racket that you wake up to."

"What do you do if you want to snooze?"

"I do not snooze."

"Does that mean I have to get up now?" Harry asked, allowing the disappointment to seep into his voice as he snuggled back into Severus.

In response, Severus sat up in bed and stretched- his spine giving a satisfying crack. "You may snooze all you wish, but I need to go take a shower and change. I will see you down at breakfast."

Harry put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Shower here; I need one too."

"I don't have clean robes here. Perhaps in the future we can remedy that, but I'm not going to put dirty robes back on, and I don't think yours will fit me."

"You can borrow my dressing gown," Harry offered. "Change later."

Severus glanced at the garment in question, a scarlet and gold monstrosity lying in a puddle of sheer fabric at the foot of the bed, and scowled.

"We've got a good hour before we need to be down at breakfast. That's fifteen minutes for you to change, another five to walk downstairs, which leaves a good forty minutes in the shower." Harry added his selling point as if it were an afterthought, "-lot you can do with forty minutes."

Severus groaned. He couldn't really argue with that; the naked body pressed back against him was seductively firm and warm. He glanced back down at the dressing gown in distaste. Potter was going to be the end of him. No self-respecting Slytherin would be caught dead in a Gryffindor's dressing gown. His reputation was seriously going to suffer from this relationship, and there went self-respect right out the window.

Half an hour later, as he came inside a soapy moaning Harry, with warm water raining down on both of them, he couldn't care less.

Another five minutes after that, as Severus was sneaking across the hall in the much detested dressing gown, he was having second thoughts.

"Looking good, Headmaster," Greggory called after him as he slipped inside his own chambers.

"Oh, Severus," he met with a reproachful voice in his office, glancing up to see the disappointed look on Albus' face. "You couldn't have done that last week? I had a wager going, I'll have you know."

Severus grumbled to himself about the inappropriateness of the portraits on this floor, intent on replacing them all with pleasant landscapes. He was pretty sure that he had a nice Van Gough in storage somewhere in the Prince estate; it should really be out where people could enjoy it.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Draco was keeping a close watch on his godfather and favorite rival. They were both eating like they'd never seen food before, and Severus kept muttering something about potatoes under his breath. Besides that, they both looked happier than he'd seen them in… ever. And to top that off, he'd received a two-hundred galleon bottle of scotch by owl last night. There hadn't been a note, but he had a pretty good idea who it was from anyway.

"I've got to go to class," Harry said, rising from the table with a hand on Severus' shoulder.

As soon as he was gone, Draco slid over on the bench into Harry's vacated spot.

"Okay, I'm not blind," Draco said in a low whisper. "Thank you for the scotch, by the way."

Severus glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow with an aggravatingly supercilious smirk on his face.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "I promise not to tell anyone, okay? I just have to know."

"Why?"

"So I can taunt him mercilessly," Draco answered.

"You can do that anyway. What's the real reason?" Severus mulled his question over for a second. "Could it be that you _care_?"

"I don't _care_. I'm just curious. It's not like I won't find out eventually; you might as well just tell me."

Severus was chuckling now. "Where, precisely, is the logic in that?"

"Fine, you want something you can appreciate? Tell me the truth, or I'll leak to the press that you're sleeping with Harry Potter whether it's true or not."

Severus was still smirking. "I thought you just said that you would keep your mouth shut, and now you're threatening blackmail? During negotiations, you should really choose one line of action and stick with it; switching around like that makes you appear weak."

"Just tell me."

"Such preoccupation, Draco," Severus tsked. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were in love with Potter."

Draco made a gagging noise. "You're too happy; you must be shagging him."

Severus just smirked. "Or maybe I really do just enjoy tormenting you _this_ much."

"You're really not going to tell me, are you?"

"If you're that curious, go ask Harry."

"Ah, see there!" Draco pointed an accusing finger at him. "You called him Harry!"

"It is permitted," Severus said. "Please keep your voice down, Draco. You're drawing attention."

Draco scowled, but lowered his voice to a whisper. "What about fucking him, is that permitted?"

The expression on Severus' face didn't waver. "As long as it's consensual, and, believe me, if you heard the things coming out of Potter's mouth in the shower this morning, you wouldn't have a doubt on that score."

Draco dissolved into another bout of gagging, but the smile on his face was one of triumph. After breakfast, he rushed down to Harry's office to rub it in his face.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Can I help you, Professor Malfoy?" Harry asked as Draco burst into his crowded classroom in the middle of Harry's morning lecture class.

"Er, yeah…" Draco said, looking around slightly embarrassed as thirty heads turned to stare at him. "I heard that congratulations are in order," he said cryptically, hoping that Potter wasn't too thick to catch his meaning.

"Thank you," Harry said, inclining his head. "I owe you a favor, but, as you can see, I'm in the middle of class, so can we talk about this later?"

"Yeah, whatever, later Potter," he said, turning to leave, "a big favor!"

Harry shook his head in disbelief, trying to remember what he was saying.

"Professor?" a third year Hufflepuff had her hand in the air.

"Yes, Miss McMillan?"

"What was Professor Malfoy congratulating you for, sir?"

_Impertinent little thing. _"The headmaster has given me permission to start a dueling club," he said, drawing on Severus' explanation to McGonagall. _At this rate, he really was going to have to start the damn dueling club._

xXxXxXxXxXx

The rest of the week flew by in a haze of classes, grading, verbal sparring with both Severus and Draco, and a lot of really hot sex. They'd done it in just about every room of Harry's quarters- including right on top of the kitchen table, and Harry was planning on a little celebratory shagging on the sofa, after he whipped the snot out of Malfoy in their scheduled race a few hours from now. He was considering hiding some lube between the sofa cushions, when he walked in and spotted Ron and Hermione sitting on said sofa.

He flushed, as though their position somehow meant they could read his thoughts.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, all but running across the room to throw herself into his arms. Harry hugged her back, looking over her shoulder to Ron for some explanation as to their unannounced visit.

"Thought we'd stop by and see how your first week went," Ron said, getting up more slowly.

"Your portrait let us in," Hermione explained. "He seems very nice."

Harry snorted. "Sure, half the time."

The unannounced guests would put a damper on Harry and Severus' recreation for the evening. Not that he would have turned them away, but Harry wished they had owled him in advance. "It's really great to see you guys," he said, letting go of Hermione to clap Ron on the back. "Classes have been good so far."

"Okay!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, she was acting uncharacteristically jumpy. "We had an ulterior motive for coming to visit." She shoved her left hand in his face long enough for him to glimpse a glint of diamond before she squealed, "Ron proposed."

Ron looked slightly embarrassed by the fact. "I would have told you before, but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. What do you say, be my best man?"

Harry flashed them the first genuine grin since their untimely arrival, pulling them both in for a hug. "Of course. Congratulations, both of you. Say, listen, I have this thing in a couple hours, but let me buy you guys dinner down in Hogsmede first. I have some news of my own."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Ron and Hermione had gone over every detail of the proposal, a moonlit stroll through the Burrow's back garden Wednesday evening, and the plans they had to get a flat in London together after the wedding. They had decided on a spring wedding, and, since Hermione's family were muggles, Harry would have to buy a tuxedo for the occasion. They were starting to look at Harry expectantly.

_This was a stupid idea; why would he want to tell them he was seeing Severus Snape anyway? _They were just going to get mad and stop talking to him; well, maybe not Hermione, but Ron definitely would.

He'd stopped eating and was nervously tapping the bowl of his spoon against the table top.

"So," Ron said after another moment of silence. "What was it you were going to tell us?"

It was Severus' voice in his head that spurred him on. _Where's that famous Gryffindor bravery, Potter?_ "Um," he stopped tapping his spoon. "Actually, I'm seeing someone."

"Brilliant!" Ron said, beaming. "So, who's the lucky girl?"

"Well," here was the moment of truth, "actually, I'm pretty sure that I'm gay."

"Oh," Ron looked surprised, but Hermione just had this imperious look on her face like she'd known all along; neither one of them seemed particularly bothered by this information. "Who's the lucky bloke then?"

"Promise you won't freak out?"

"I promise."

"Really? Because, you're not going to like this."

"As long as it's not Draco Malfoy," Ron warned.

"No, not Malfoy," _Why did everyone think that? _"But, I'm going to hold you to that."

"I promise."

"And you have to promise not to tell anyone. We're trying to keep it out of the papers."

"Merlin, Harry! What do you think I'm going to do- run straight to the Prophet?"

"No," Harry said, "but it's the sort of thing that's likely to spread around fast. One slip to the wrong person and…"

"What do you want me to do?" Ron said in exasperation, "Swear an unbreakable oath?"

"Under the circumstances, it might not be such a bad idea."

"Just tell us, Harry," Hermione said calmly. "Ronald promises not to overreact."

"Yeah," Ron said. "Ronald promises."

"Well, I'm sort of dating my boss," Harry said finally. He couldn't actually bring himself to say the words _Severus Snape- _best to prolong the screaming for as long as possible.

Instead, Ron started laughing. "I think you have that switched around, Harry. _Snape_ is your boss."

"Yeah Ron, I know that."

Ron gaped at him. "You're dating Snape!"

There, that was more along the lines of what he had been expecting. Harry ducked down into the corner as a few of the other patrons looked their way.

"You promised not to overreact, Ron," Hermione said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That was back when I thought the worst possible answer was Draco Malfoy! I'm not overreacting; if anything, I'm under-reacting." Ron was staring at Harry like he'd been possessed by aliens. "It must be a love potion. Snape's a potions master; that's got to be it. Armor, armor, … it's armor something."

"Amortentia," Hermione corrected him. "But I don't think Harry is being drugged." She smiled at him encouragingly. "Amortentia needs to be applied in continual doses, and, if I'm not mistaken, Harry's been feeling this way for a while now. Isn't that right, Harry? Before you started dating Ginny even?"

Harry scratched at the back of his head. How was it that Hermione always seemed to know _everything_? "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Wait, you were after Snape while you were dating my sister?" Ron had stopped yelling now, and he was just trying to wrap his head around what Harry was saying. Ron had never much fancied blokes himself, though his brother Bill had dated a few guys when he was in school, but, if he had been after a man, he couldn't imagine choosing Snape.

"It wasn't like that. It was complicated," Harry said, letting out a sigh. "I wasn't sure what I wanted. I liked Ginny a lot, but I was still attracted to Severus. I wasn't ready to admit it, so I thought that maybe if I dated Ginny it would go away, but it only got worse. After that, it looked like Severus was really working for Voldemort after all, so I didn't know what to think. But now, his name is cleared, I don't have to save the world anymore, I have a job that I enjoy, and I'm pretty good at it, so I can date whoever I want, and bugger what everyone else thinks. I deserve to be happy."

Ron put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to argue with you there, but _Snape_? Seriously? I think I'm going to need a drink." He waved Madam Rosmerta over and ordered a pint.

Hermione slid across the bench to have a private word with Harry. "Are you sure about this?" She glanced back at Ron, who was gratefully receiving his beer. "Don't worry about what Ron thinks. If you're sure about this, absolutely sure, he'll support you in the end, but are you? Sure, I mean."

Harry grinned. "Of course. I've waited long enough. I'm not going to let anything stop me now."

"Could be the Imperius curse." Ron broke in, drinking from his glass like they were just having a casual conversation.

"I'm not under the Imperius curse, Ron."

"Besides," Hermione reasoned. "Harry can fight off the Imperius curse."

"Oh, right," Ron said.

"Don't mind him, Harry. I'm happy for you," Hermione put a hand on his arm and gave him a sympathetic smile that did little to convey happiness.

"Actually, I'm surprised at how well he's taking it. I was all ready to obliviate him if I had to."

"Don't even joke about that," Hermione scolded. "What a horrible thing to do to someone."

"Ah, but I'm Harry Potter," he said sarcastically. "Don't you know that I can get away with anything? Anyway, are you quite sure that _he's_ not under the Imperius curse."

"Yes, but you do have a point." Hermione looked over at her fiancé, who was already halfway through his pint.

Ron paused in his drinking. "As long as I don't have to see him or talk to him, I don't see what difference it makes. I'm not that interested in the details of Harry's sex life." Ron took another sip of his beer. "I do have one question though. How exactly does something like this happen? It doesn't seem very likely. Did Snape just walk up and go-" here Ron tried ineffectually to imitate Severus' velvety drawl. "Potter, I require your company for an evening. You will be my date, be here for your punishment at eight o'clock."

This statement could have been interpreted slightly differently than Ron had meant it, but Harry wasn't about to point that out. Ron was taking all this remarkably well, and Harry wasn't about to press his luck.

Instead, Harry answered his question. "No, not quite like that. We'd been bantering back and forth for a week or so, then, after the staff party, we both had a little too much to drink, and he crashed on my sofa. I made him breakfast the next morning, and, that night, he kissed me. We have a date tomorrow evening." Harry left off the part where Severus had spent the night in his quarters every night this week, and, judging by the look on Ron's face when he mentioned the kissing, now might not be the best time to get into specifics. "I think Draco might have had something to do with it. I can't imagine how Severus would have rationalized making the first move if it hadn't been a sure thing."

"Wait," Ron frowned, trying his best to scrub the image of Harry kissing Snape from his mind, "Draco _Malfoy_."

"Well, yeah. He's the flight instructor, and Severus' godson. We've actually been getting on pretty well. He's only half as arrogant as he used to be." Ron's face had gone ashen, so Harry quickly amended. "I still hate his guts of course, but it's more like back when we were first years: a familiar dislike. A healthy rivalry is a good thing. Anyway, speaking of Malfoy, we have a broom race in about an hour, so I need to get back and change. You guys should come. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams set up some kind of obstacle course. It should be good. You guys can come watch me wipe the field with Malfoy's stupid face."

"Yes," Ron said. "I think that will cheer me up." He rose, eager to be away, as though the place was somehow to blame for his best friend's current love interest in his most hated former professor.

They gathered their jackets, and Harry paid the bill at the bar. The whole reveal had gone remarkably well- almost unbelievably so. Now he just had to tell Sirius and Remus, but he had a feeling that wouldn't go nearly as well. If he was lucky, maybe Remus would be able to keep Sirius from killing Severus outright, but he wasn't exactly counting on it.

It was unseasonably warm for a September evening, and Harry found himself removing his jacket almost as soon as he slipped it on. The sun was beginning to wester, but they still had a couple of hours before it would be completely dark out. There would be plenty of time to change and race Malfoy around the pitch a couple of times.

"Just for the record," Ron said as they were leaving town and heading up the track toward the castle. "I think that this whole thing with you and Snape is pretty sick, and I'm going to gloat when it all blows up in your face. In the meantime," Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder, "whatever floats your boat, mate."

"I can live with that."

xXxXxXxXxXx

The Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams really went all out on the race track. Harry and Draco were standing on one end of the pitch, each in their old team robes, looking out at the mayhem that their students were expecting them to fly through. Harry had been through worse; there wasn't a dragon or a couple dozen Death Eaters shooting curses at him, but this wasn't going to be a casual flight through the park.

"This should be interesting," Draco said, mounting his broom to hover next to Harry.

Harry glanced around at the crowded stands. "The whole school must be here."

"Talk to your boyfriend about that; this was his idea."

"What?" Harry frowned, mounting his own broom. "Sev did this?"

"He sent an announcement to the heads of house after he saw what the Quidditch teams were doing to the pitch." Draco stared out at the madness before them and grimaced. It was a far cry from their earlier race. "It figures that he would want the whole school here for this."

Harry scanned the stands for his lover, but he couldn't pick the man out of the sea of people. "We're supposed to fly through the hoops?"

"Yeah, there's thirty-seven. The first to fly through all of them wins."

"And they move."

"Yes."

"Fast."

"Oh, yeah."

"That one's on fire."

"Miss Weasley."

"Fantastic." Harry straightened the bracer on his left arm. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Draco answered, kicking his broom a little higher.

"On three, then?" Harry asked, matching him.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

They both took off in opposite directions as the stands around them erupted with cheers. The golden rings were arranged around the pitch in a kind of U-shape in front of them. They started on opposite ends of the U, and they would meet in the middle- if they got that far. Each ring moved very quickly in an erratic pattern and was additionally protected with some type of enchantment. Some were as simple as a bludger enchanted to remain within a five foot perimeter of the ring; others were more complex.

As Harry accelerated sharply to make it through the first hoop as the thing shot above his head, he was beset by a swarm of pixies, and he was barely able to bat them all off before he made it to the next ring. On the opposite end of the course, Draco was having a hard time making it through his first hoop at all; the thing kept shrinking every time he flew within five feet of it, and finally he had to fly in from behind and curve back around, narrowly missing the bludger guarding the next ring in the process.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Harry's doing well," a small feminine voice said from his elbow, and Severus turned to see Hermione Granger moving to stand by him, pulling Ron Weasley along by his sleeve. Judging by the look on Ron's face, they'd spent the afternoon with Harry, which explained their presence.

"I take it he's told you then," Severus said, shifting to put a little more space between Granger and himself.

"Yes," Hermione said, "about an hour ago."

"Should I get my wand out? Is your boyfriend planning on attempting to hex me?" Severus asked, seething with his usual level of sarcasm and condescension.

"Fiancé actually," Hermione corrected, "and no, I don't think any of that will be necessary."

"Dunno," Ron said, fingering his wand in his pocket. "I was kinda considerin' it."

"Stop acting like a child, Ronald, and just watch the race. I think Harry's winning."

"Of course Harry's winning," Ron scoffed. "Malfoy doesn't stand a chance; not on a nimbus twenty-o-two against a firebolt."

"Oh, I don't know," Severus argued. "In a race like this it's maneuverability that counts more than speed. I'd say that they're on pretty equal ground."

"Harry's a better flyer," Ron said, finally coming forward to stand next to them so he could see the pitch better.

"It could go either way," Severus assessed, from his slightly less biased position.

"Is one of those hoops flaming?" Ron had just caught sight of the raging inferno that his best friend was supposed to fly through as it bobbed up and down menacingly.

"That would be your sister's doing," Severus said.

"Oh yeah," Ron grinned. "Did Harry tell her about the two of you also?"

"It would be between the two of them if he had, but I don't think so."

"Don't you care if everyone thinks you're some kind of sick weirdo?"

"I would have thought that you were of the opinion that most people already did," Severus said. He refrained from drawing his wand. He didn't think that it would go over well if he hexed his lover's best friend into oblivion- tempting as the prospect was.

"Yeah," Ron said. "I guess you don't have much of a reputation to risk."

Hermione was ignoring them in favor of watching the race. Harry was about two hoops farther along than Draco, but, since each hoop presented a different set of challenges, it was impossible to tell who was really ahead. Harry was flying very slowly through a cloud of thick purple smoke, and Draco gained another ring easily before he stopped dead in front of Ginny's blazing pyrotechnics.

"I guess it's too much to hope that you could actually be enlightened about this whole thing," Severus said, "but I would have hoped that you could at least be supportive of your friend. He's sacrificed a lot for you and the girl over the years."

"I am being supportive of Harry, and that's the only, I do mean the _only_, reason that I haven't pulled my wand on you yet. I don't like you Snape, and I never will, but, as long as you're dating Harry, I'm going to leave you alone. Harry deserves to be happy, and, if some sick perverted relationship with you makes him happy, I'm not going to interfere. It's none of my business. Harry's fully capable of taking care of himself, but if you _ever_ hurt him all that protection falls away, and I _will_ do my very best to kill you."

Severus snorted. "How very gallant of you, but, I assure you, that won't be necessary. The last thing that I want is to hurt Harry."

Ron grunted. "Fine, see that you don't" That small chore taken care of, Ron turned his attention back to the race.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was neck and neck with Draco as they each rounded on their last two hoops. Draco made it through the second to last hoop easily enough, but he was swarmed by the pixies before he could make it through the last one. He squirmed as the wretched things bit at him, and he had to brush them off, losing valuable time. Meanwhile, Harry easily ducked the bludger and made it through the correct side of the shrinking ring, racing back to the goals at the end of the pitch, and making it across the finish line a moment before Draco.

They both fell off their brooms at about the same time and lay on the ground panting and slightly charred as the stands around them once more erupted with applause and loud cheers.

"I won again," Harry said, sitting up with a groan.

"Not by much," Draco said, sitting up also, and batting out the flicker of flame that had sprung up on the corner of his robes. He slipped something from around his neck and tossed it, gold and glittering, at Harry.

Harry caught it, the wings of a tiny snitch on a gold chain beating against his hand.

Draco gestured at it. "The snitch is yours until I do beat you."

Harry grinned, slipping it on over his neck. "Never going to happen, Malfoy."

Draco shrugged. "You didn't beat me by much. It's all about staying in shape. I'm out flying all day, while you're shut away in that stuffy classroom lecturing to the idiot first years. Who do you think the better flyer will be, come Christmas?"

"Keep telling yourself that, Malfoy," Harry said, getting to his feet with a groan just as the Gryffindor Quidditch team ran onto the pitch and swept him up onto their shoulders while the stands took up their cheer again.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It seemed an eternity later when Harry finally made it back up to his rooms and into the hot embrace of his shower. He had bid Hermione and Ron farewell, wished his former Quidditch team, now captained by Ginny Weasley, luck in their upcoming match, and stopped by Draco's rooms to celebrate their survival with a drink. He'd lost Severus somewhere in the midst of the celebration, but, right now, the hot water was good enough for him. It stung a little on his burns, and he was starting to wish that he'd gone to the infirmary with Draco earlier when he heard the door to the bathroom click closed and he was joined by a second body in the shower.

Harry's eyes fluttered closed and he moaned as Severus' hands came to rest on his shoulders and started messaging away the knots that had formed in his muscles.

"Your friends came to talk to me," Severus whispered, and Harry's eyes shot open. Severus just continued messaging, moving down to Harry's biceps. "Weasley threatened me."

Harry smiled. "Well, you certainly seem threatened," he said, leaning back into Severus' touch. "You should probably stay away from me." He moaned as Severus leaned forward to kiss his neck.

"I probably should." Severus whispered. His right arm left Harry's bicep to slide down his abdomen and rest on his arousal.

Harry gasped, reaching up to tangle his fingers in Severus' hair. "You can stay away from me tomorrow."

"That's very generous of you." Severus sneered. "Does that mean I'm off the hook for that date I'm supposed to be taking you on?"

Harry spun around, pressing into Severus. "No. We had a deal, and you better do better than just dinner too."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "And what will you do if I don't?"

"I think what you should be worried about is what I will do if you do."

Well, that was good enough motivation for Severus. He could probably think of something.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I have big plans for the next chapter. It should be good.


	11. Take Me Out

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is the name of a song by Franz Ferdinand.

Give Me Life

Chapter Eleven

Take Me Out

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry decided he liked Saturdays. He woke late to find Severus sitting on his sofa with a pile of paperwork and a quill.

"I thought you'd slipped into a coma," he commented as Harry shuffled into the room.

"What time is it?" Harry asked, yawning and stretching.

"Eleven," Severus answered without glancing at his pocket watch. "Make me breakfast."

"Good morning to you too," Harry said, flopping unceremoniously onto the sofa.

"I'm not kidding, Potter. It's eleven o'clock, and I haven't eaten."

Harry groaned. "Why didn't you just go down to the Great Hall?"

"It's not the same," Severus said. "If I wanted to eat in the Great Hall, I would've slept in my own quarters."

"You really are just using me for food!"

"You're forgetting sex and bickering," Severus added, smirking at him.

"Fine," Harry said, getting to his feet. "What do you want?"

"Waffles and sausages," Severus answered immediately.

"I don't have a waffle iron or any sausage," Harry said. "What do you want instead?"

Severus' smirk fell. "You don't have a waffle iron?"

"No," Harry repeated.

"I'll go get mine then; I think I have sausage too."

"Then why don't you make it yourself?" Harry asked, sitting back down.

"I just like seeing you in that apron," Severus commented, as he left to retrieve his waffle iron and a package of sausage.

Harry smiled to himself, sinking into the sofa cushions. He wasn't completely sure that he was ready to be awake. He'd dozed back off again by the time that Severus had returned, and he woke to a large cast iron waffle iron being dropped into his lap.

Harry wiped at the drool forming at the corner of his mouth, and blinked his eyes into focus. "Wha-?"

"Apron," Severus said, sitting back down to continue with his paperwork.

"Yeah, yeah," Harry mumbled, getting up and taking the waffle iron and sausages into the kitchen. He really didn't mind being ordered around by Severus; actually it was kind of nice. It made him feel needed- even if it was only for food, sex, and bickering. He really did like the bickering… and the sex.

He unhooked his apron from its spot by the kitchen closet and laid it on the table while he removed his dressing gown. He stood naked in the kitchen for a moment, just out of Severus' eye line, until he looped his apron on over his head and tied the laces in a bow. It was probably a bad idea, cooking with grease half naked, but if it got Severus' attention the risk would be worthwhile.

Harry whipped up some waffle batter, preheated the waffle iron with his wand, and poured in the proper amount, allowing that to cook while he set up the sausages to cook on the stove. He was just setting strawberries and whipped cream on the table as Severus came in.

Severus raised an eyebrow at Harry, naked under his apron and bent slightly over the table to set down the whipped cream and strawberries. "I thought we were having breakfast," he commented, smirking lecherously.

Harry smirked, turning around and going back to the stove to flip over the sausages and start a second waffle. He was just flipping the waffle iron as strong arms encircled his waist and pulled him back.

"You're such a slut, Potter," Severus whispered huskily in his ear, pinching one bare cheek as he nuzzled the crook of Harry's neck.

Harry hit him with the spatula and pulled away to tend to the sausages.

"And a tease," Severus added, going to sit at the table.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, well, you're a greasy git," Harry said, setting Severus' breakfast down before him, "and you're bossy."

"Lucky for you that my wit and sexual prowess make up for it," Severus retorted, piling whipped cream and strawberries onto his waffle.

Harry sat down with his breakfast, smirking back at him. "I didn't say that you had _no_ redeeming qualities. They're just few and far between." Harry reached over to put whipped cream on his own waffles, and Severus leaned forward and kissed him.

"Just so long as you know they're there."

Harry smiled. "Does that mean that there's some table sex in it for me later?"

Severus made a face. "I'm never doing that again."

Harry pouted. "Why not?"

"Because, I refuse to revert to the state of some horny adolescent just because I'm dating one."

"But that's one of the perks."

"I said no."

"Please?"

"No."

"We could do it on the desk in your office instead."

"Absolutely not." Severus sighed. It's not like he could have denied Harry- not in that deliciously domestic apron with his bum showing under the bowed laces in the back. "Fine, but we're cleaning off the table first this time."

Harry snorted, sputtering whipped cream out of his mouth.

"Oh, real sexy Potter," Severus said wryly, leaning forward to dab at the corner of Harry's mouth.

"Under other circumstances, you might think so," Harry said, smirking under Severus' napkin.

Severus threw the napkin aside and replaced it with his lips: screw clearing off the table.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry felt nervous for some reason. He was pacing his quarters anxiously, occasionally tidying up as he came across something that was out of place.

Severus had gone to have lunch with Kingsley to discuss a special summer program that the minister wanted to start. Severus was dead set against it, of course, it was bad enough he had to deal with the annoying little brats nine months out of the year; he didn't need to see them during the summer holidays as well. Potter was bad enough. Still, he liked Kingsley, and the least he could do was hear him out.

This had left Harry alone for the afternoon, until Severus would be back to pick him up for their date that evening. It was agony. Harry had finished all his grading for the weekend in a couple of hours. He'd learned quickly that it was best to do it while Severus was away; otherwise he would get yelled at for being too lenient, and Severus would take a pot of red ink to the assignments himself. That taken care of, Harry had made himself a light lunch, read for a little while, and hopped in the shower.

He didn't realize, until he got out of the shower and started to get dressed, just how nervous he actually was. He wasn't sure what to wear. After about an hour, he'd gotten as far as a pair of red boxers.

Severus wouldn't tell him where they were going, so he wasn't sure what would be appropriate. He didn't even know if he should dress in wizard or muggle clothes, but then he remembered a casual question Severus had asked last week, and he had that issue decided.

"The muggle trousers, the blue ones," Harry whispered to himself, smiling. He then proceeded to try on every pair of jeans he owned, checking his own ass out in the mirror each time, until he finally found the pair that he wanted: dark blue and boot cut. They looked good with his new dragon skin boots.

After that, he spent another half hour trying to pick out a shirt. Why he thought it mattered so much, he didn't know. The couple t-shirts he tried on seemed too informal. It would really help if he knew where they were going, but, he had to admit, the anticipation was kind of exciting. He finally settled on a black button-up shirt. It was comfortable, sexy, and formal enough for a fancy restaurant if that's where they ended up.

Once Harry was dressed, he spent another half hour trying to make his hair look like anything other than bed head, but as usual the effort was in vain. He finally gave up, splashed on a little cologne, and went to wait in the living room. He sat on the sofa for a while, but then he got restless and started pacing.

He'd tidied just about everything there was to tidy, and, without that chore to keep his mind off things, he started to worry. He worried about what he would say or how he would act. So far, his and Severus' relationship was pretty much just an extension of their previous dynamic with the addition of sex. But, how would Severus act on a date? They would have to be discreet in public, or there would be pictures all over the tabloids. Would he be affectionate and attentive? Would he expect Harry to be? Harry wasn't sure that he was ready for that sort of thing. They'd never been out together, even before they started sleeping together, and this whole thing was at such an early stage; he didn't want to screw it up by doing or saying something stupid.

No one else he dated even noticed when he was being an idiot, or, if they did, they never brought it up, because he was Harry _sodding_ Potter, and he could do no wrong. Severus was the one exception, and he never hesitated to call Harry out on his mistakes. That was why Harry thought this might actually work; he could never have a meaningful relationship with someone who worshipped the ground he walked upon.

But, what exactly was he supposed to do on a date with Severus? Whenever they went anywhere in public, they were very careful not to draw attention to themselves by acting any differently toward one another. So far, they had been successful. Draco was the only one on staff who knew about their relationship. How would all of that translate into a date type situation? Would they have to pretend like they were discussing business? _Would they discuss business?_ Would Severus act differently? And where in Merlin's name were they going? All of these questions were spinning around in his head as he paced back and forth, and he was starting to feel a little queasy.

But then, almost as soon as he recognized it, that queasy feeling was replaced by an almost overwhelming sense of concern. It took Harry a moment to realize that it wasn't his own emotion. He probed at it with his magic, eyes shut tight in concentration. This kind of manual manipulation of magical energies was beyond the ability of most wizards, and Harry was far from mastering the technique, so it took all of his concentration. He needn't have tried so hard though, because he felt a playful nudge of magical energy so powerful and unexpected that he had to sit down against the wall to keep from falling over. The push of foreign magic lessened to a warm tingle in his chest and the pieces clicked together. Severus was right, he really was an idiot.

It was Hogwarts. The castle must have sensed how worried he was and expressed its concern. This was something that would go unnoticed by most people, but Harry had already tuned into the castle's magic once that week. Damian Warrick must be a natural at manipulating magical energy if he could sense things like that all the time. Harry could barely imagine what that would be like. It must be unnerving to sense the emotions of those around you all the time, especially in an environment like this. Magic and emotion were tied very close together. This is why muggles in heightened emotional states were sometimes capable of performing magic: like a ninety pound woman lifting a car off her child. Unfortunately, fledgling wizards were not very skilled at controlling either their magic or their emotions. That was why the early manifestation of magic in children, especially muggleborns, needed to be monitored so closely. A child having a tantrum could hurt his or her parents inadvertently with an unconscious flare of magical energy. That phenomenon didn't go away as a witch or wizard grew older, it just became easier to control. Harry had been thirteen when he blew up his aunt.

If Damian could sense the minute fluxuations in other wizard's magic all the time, it was no wonder that he wanted a room to himself. Harry wondered if there was a proximity factor, and how far away a person needed to be before Damian couldn't sense them anymore. He would have to find some means of broaching the subject with the boy- maybe invite him to tea on the premise of finding out how school was going. All of the teachers were expressing concern over their sole Slytherin, so it wouldn't raise any suspicion. Either way, it seemed as though Slytherin had itself a new rising star. Which, seeing as he would have to compensate for a shortage of about nine other students, was probably a good thing.

Harry tried to compose his magical energy to reflect something like reassurance, but it felt sloppy, so he added, "It's okay, I'm just nervous about my date with Severus," aloud.

He was rewarded for his efforts by a resurgence of that powerful magical energy. This time it didn't catch him by surprise quite so much, and he grinned.

He got an impression of joy and playfulness.

"You're happy that I'm dating Severus?" Harry asked, not sure how to convey the message with his magic.

It seemed to have worked though, because he got another nudge and the feeling of support.

"Thanks," he said, smiling again and feeling far less nervous. "You're probably the only one. Except maybe Dumbledore, but he's crazier than usual these days; I expect it comes from being a portrait."

_Laughter._ Harry had a definite sense of laughter.

Okay, this was crazy. He was talking to a castle. A powerfully magical castle but still just a building: stones and mortar. What was crazier still, was that he actually felt better. Still, it felt like an eternity before Severus would be there to pick him up. In reality it was only another twenty minutes, but he still felt restless.

"Do you know if Sev is back on school grounds yet?" There was a pause, long enough for Harry to assume that he was pushing the bounds of what the castle was capable of, but then he had a clear image in his head of Severus in his quarters talking to Draco.

He couldn't hear what they were talking about, apparently Hogwarts-vision didn't come with sound, but he had a distinct impression that they were talking about him. Severus was leaning halfway out of the closet, bare-chested in a pair of black trousers, saying something to Draco, who was stretched out on Severus' bed looking bored. He wished that he could hear what they were saying, but a moment later the image was gone.

"Thanks," Harry said, standing up and patting the cold stone of the wall. There was another flip of joy in his chest. He supposed that Severus was right; it would get awfully lonely being a castle. He would have to make a point of addressing Hogwarts more often. It would be nice if he didn't feel like such a lunatic when he did, though.

After another twenty minutes spent trying to flatten his hair and erratically pacing his quarters, Harry finally heard the sound of argument from outside, and the portrait swung open to reveal a very harassed Severus Snape.

"I think there's a closet in the dungeons that could use some sprucing up!" Severus called over his shoulder.

Harry smirked. "Isn't it a little early for Greg to be up?"

"Bertram," Severus grumbled. "Sometimes I think he's worse." Severus looked him up and down. "You look good; ready to go?"

The comment was off-handed, but Harry beamed. "Yeah, where are we going?"

"You'll find out soon enough, come on." Severus waited while Harry put his boots on.

"How did the meeting go with Kingsley?" Harry asked when he straightened up.

"He means to guilt me into starting some sort of summer program for the more gifted students."

"What did you tell them?"

"That it was an oxymoron, and I do not work summers."

"Is that the end of it then?"

"No," Severus sighed. "Probably not, but if we have students stay in the castle over summer break, someone else is going to have to manage them." Severus turned to lead the way out the door, and Harry took a moment to see if he could deduce anything from the man's wardrobe. Severus wore his favored black trousers and a white collared shirt under his waistcoat, but he had traded in his outer robes and cloak for a black wool coat. It suited him, but didn't really tell Harry anything.

"Was your afternoon productive?" Severus asked after they had walked in silence for a moment.

"I finished my grading for the weekend," Harry answered. "I did some experimentation with magical energy field manipulation. It's slow going, but very interesting."

Severus turned to Harry in surprise. "What were you trying to accomplish?"

"Nothing in particular, I had a conversation with our new Slytherin the other day, and I did some experimentation trying to sense the castle's magical signature, and I think I established some kind of permanent contact."

Severus raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Harry started to explain in detail his conversation with Hogwarts. Severus seemed very interested, and broke in with questions more than once. Harry was just happy that he could hold Severus' attention, and their discussion carried them all the way across the school grounds and down to the front gate.

"So you don't think I'm going mad?" Harry asked when Severus had finally run out of questions. He was beginning to feel like a bit of a nutter. The whole thing just sounded so ridiculous when he repeated it.

"Not at all," Severus said. "Actually, it makes perfect sense. It explains a few things too."

"Like what?"

"Primarily, Albus' infuriating omniscience."

"You mean how he always seems to know everything, even the things that he has no possible way of knowing."

"Yes, that's what I said. You really would benefit from a thesaurus, Harry."

"Hey," Harry poked him hard in the shoulder. "This is a date; you're supposed to be romantic, not insult my vocabulary."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so not romantic, exactly," Harry allowed. "I would settle for marginally less sarcastic."

Severus smirked at that. "How about I direct my vitriol at someone else for the remainder of the evening? Would that suit?"

"Alright, but don't blame me if the wait staff puts something unpleasant in your food."

"Very well, I promise to wait until after I have received my food to insult the waitress. Now, may we go?"

"Of course," Harry pulled out his wand. "Where are we going?"

"Dinner first, I have chosen a restaurant. Put that away, and I will apparate us."

"Oh, right, right," Harry mumbled, putting his wand away and stepping forward to allow Severus to wrap one arm around his waist. "We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

"And it gives me an excuse to hold onto you," Severus added, just as they were both gripped by the unpleasant sensation of apparition.

They reappeared in an alley, and Severus quickly put away his wand.

"Are you going to tell me where we are now?" Harry asked, reluctantly slipping out from Severus' grasp.

"Not quite yet, but keep your wand in your pocket and don't mention anything too magical."

Harry's eyes widened. He'd briefly considered the possibility that they would be travelling outside the magical world, but he hadn't exactly been expecting it.

As Severus led them out of the alley and out onto the main thoroughfare, Harry was greeted by a grand panoramic view of the sunset over a sparkling blue lake. Harry let out a little gasp, and Severus smiled.

"It is a nice view," he said, giving an appraising look towards the horizon line. "Come on, the restaurant's on the lakefront." And, Severus actually reached out and took Harry's hand, as they crossed the brick street and strolled down to the popular little restaurant that Severus had indicated, just getting into the dinner rush.

Harry felt self-conscious as they approached the hostess at her podium just inside the door, and Severus still hadn't let go of his hand. But, the hostess just smiled at them. She was a pretty woman, a little on the plump side, and she tipped Harry a knowing wink as she led them to a table out on the veranda with a nice view of the lake. She gave them menus and smiled again at Harry before returning to her station.

The waitress wasn't quite so congenial. Severus had reclaimed Harry's hand almost as soon as they were seated, clasping it openly on the tabletop as they both perused their menus. In the wizarding world this wouldn't have been a problem. The age difference or the person's involved in this particular instance might raise a few eyebrows, but the gender of the two wouldn't have been called into question. But they were not in the wizarding world, and Severus' rather brazen show of affection made Harry uncomfortable. He could feel himself flushing slightly as the waitress came over to take their orders.

Severus ordered the veal chops, not even looking up at her. Meanwhile, she was giving Harry a disgusted look that made him turn an even darker shade of red. She wrote down Severus' order, scowling a little.

"And what can I get for your son?" she asked, her voice was high and nasally, and Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to get angry or bury his head in his arms in shame until she went away.

Severus wasn't nearly as forgiving. He looked up at her, and said, "Oh, he's not my son, though it's an honest mistake." His lips curled into a venomous smile, and the glint in his eyes told Harry that Severus was far from finished taking his revenge for the waitress' _honest mistake_. If he wasn't so embarrassed and angry, Harry probably would have felt sorry for her.

Severus turned his vengeful smile to Harry and his lips twitched into a smirk as he brought Harry's hand to his lips and kissed the palm. "What did you want, dear?"

Harry looked up at him in horror as Severus maintained that evil smirk.

"Salmon," Harry said quickly, folding up his menu and handing it to the waitress without making eye contact. Severus did the opposite. He forced her to reach over him for the menu, all the while doing his best to stare the woman down.

"I thought that you were going to wait until after we got our food," Harry said after the waitress left, still slightly pink.

"I was neither sarcastic nor insulting. I merely corrected the young woman's mistake." It was true; he could have been a lot worse.

"Well, you didn't have to be so hostile about it."

"And you didn't have to be so passive. I specifically chose this restaurant so that we wouldn't have to worry about discretion for one evening, and I'm not going to let one close-minded muggle ruin that."

Harry nodded and gave Severus' hand a little squeeze. "Okay, but wait until the close-minded muggle brings us our food before we start macking on each other, okay?"

"It's not necessary to draw attention to ourselves, Harry, but there is no reason why it should be unacceptable for me to hold my lover's hand in public, and I'm well within my rights to make anyone who thinks otherwise a little uncomfortable."

Harry cocked his head to the side. "So, what then?"

"So, nothing. We're on our first bimonthly date, as previously negotiated. We're at a nice restaurant with a wonderful view. I'm holding your hand, and biting my tongue. So, stop worrying about what the waitress thinks, and enjoy yourself. And, I expect an appropriate thank you when we get back."

Harry smiled. "That seems fair."

Severus gasped in mock horror. "Did I just hear the great Harry Potter accuse me of being impartial?"

"Nonsense," Harry said, smiling around the edge of his wine glass. "I would never do such a thing." He set his glass down, and picked up his butter knife spinning it between his fingers. "You like that part of it don't you?" Harry said finally.

"Which part?"

"The great Harry Potter," he repeated de sotto.

"I couldn't care less how famous you are, Potter," Severus said, as though he was offended that Harry would even suggest it.

"No, not that! ...well, not that exactly," Harry was starting to regret ever bringing it up. He tried to find a way to put what he was thinking into words without sounding like a vapid narcissist or further offending Severus. "You like defying people's expectations of you, even when no one knows about it. You like for people to have this certain image of you, and I think that you like being able to surprise them by proving them wrong, even though you never do."

Severus frowned, sifting through Harry's convoluted explanation. "I am what I am, Harry. I've been through too many things in my life to bother correcting people who mistake me for something else. Sometimes, it's just easier to pretend to be who they think I am. But, occasionally, yes, I suppose I do get vindication from proving people wrong. As to the significance of that to our relationship, I do not think its revelation would get the response you think."

"You don't think that the public at large would think differently of you if they knew that we were dating?"

"On the contrary, I believe that the public at large would think very differently. In addition to considering me a dark wizard, murderer, and traitor, they would also think I'm a pervert and likely accuse me of drugging you. I would be greatly surprised if Mr. Weasley hasn't already suggested it, though Miss Granger will have no doubt cured him of the notion."

"Well, yes," Harry said a little sheepishly. "But there's no way you could be. Hermione said that you would've had to have been drugging me for the last three years, and there was no way you could've been. This time last year we were hiding in a tent in the middle of nowhere; it's not like you could have been slipping me some love potion in my morning porridge."

"So, you were able to convince your friends, but the rest of the wizarding world will not be so easily swayed."

"But they can test for that sort of thing, and they won't be able to argue with that. I think that once people realized that I'm with you because I want to be they will change their minds about you. Maybe then people will start to trust you and see you for the hero that you are."

"You forget," Severus interrupted, refilling Harry's wine glass which was now only half full. "I don't care what other people think about me." He paused to take a sip of his own wine, "Not the most of people in any case."

Harry frowned. "Why bother correcting the waitress at all then, if you don't care?"

"Because, it wasn't a matter of correcting a misconception. She didn't think that I was evil or frightening, and she knew perfectly well that you are not my son, so by correcting her I was letting her know just how little her opinion matters to me, and, hopefully, from now on she will keep it to herself. If not, there are further steps that can be taken; I refuse to be bullied by a service class muggle with a superiority complex."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I could never be a spy, you know."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes, and why is that?"

"I don't have the mind for it," Harry admitted. "I suck at reading people, and I would never be able to play a situation on so many levels and keep it all straight. Who thinks what, and who knows what, and what I'm supposed to know, and the whole convoluted identity thing, all the while being sure not to rouse anyone's suspicions or fail to meet their expectations. I couldn't even handle a bigoted waitress. You're a devious man, Sev, regardless of moral superiority. Sometimes I envy you that."

"My deviousness or my moral superiority?" Severus asked, smirking.

"The subtle combination of the two, it makes you interesting."

"Harry, you are a great many things, but uninteresting is not one of them."

"Well yeah, sure. Interesting things happen to me, but I'm not actually interesting myself. It's all just a lot of luck, good or bad depending on how you look at it, and brash behavior."

"I won't argue with you about the brash behavior, but you are a very interesting young man. Your experiences have colored your worldview in such a way as to give you a unique perspective that I find both interesting and refreshing. Your experience with the Dark Lord has given you maturity beyond your years, and, I suppose, that's what I find most appealing."

Harry flushed a little. He was always worried that he wasn't interesting enough to hold Severus' attention conversationally. It was nice to be assured that this wasn't the case.

"Don't you think that this is a little too much psycho analysis for a first date?" Severus asked, tactfully trying to change the subject.

"It's not like we just met," Harry defended. "But, yes, I didn't mean to get into it so deeply; it was only an observation."

Severus smiled and took a sip of water. "You know, fate is a funny thing, Harry. If you'd told me seven years ago that I would be sitting in a restaurant holding your hand and discussing personal philosophy, I would have tried to convince Albus to send you off to St. Mungo's."

"Do you think that back in first year I could have imagined bedding my greasy Potions professor, who just happened to be twice my age and hate my guts?"

Severus shrugged. "I'm still greasy and twice your age; the hatred was an error of judgment on my part."

"Did I just hear Severus Snape admit he was wrong?" Harry cupped a hand to his ear. "Next you'll be telling me that the earth is really flat."

Severus smiled. "Of course it is, it travels the cosmos held up by four elephants riding around on the back of a giant turtle."

Harry shrugged. "I've heard crazier ideas."

Just then, the waitress returned with their food and a frown on her face. She set the plates down in front of them without making eye contact. "Anything else I can get for you boys?" she asked, already turning to leave.

Harry held his breath in dread, but Severus merely shook his head and picked up his fork and knife.

"I'm impressed," Harry said, picking up his own knife.

"As I said," Severus inclined his head. "I am biting my tongue."

Harry smirked. "Well, don't bite too hard. I plan to make good use of it later."

"Mr. Potter," Severus reprimanded. "You really are insatiable."

"Are you complaining?" Harry asked, taking a bite of his salmon. "Am I wearing you out, old man?"

"Sweet naïve, Potter," Severus said, matching Harry's smirk. "You have no idea."

Harry furrowed his brow. "How is that?"

"I've been restraining myself," Severus answered, mildly.

"Why?" Harry asked, not sounding at all as though he believed him.

"Because, if I didn't, we would never leave the bedroom, and the school would fall into complete disarray all around us. Besides," Severus said, still smirking, "you're young and inexperienced. You wouldn't be able to keep up for very long."

"Is that a challenge, Headmaster?" Harry asked.

"Why yes, I believe it was," Severus said, taking another bite of his veal.

"Do we have to eat dinner?" Harry asked, setting down his fork. "Because, if you really want to get out of this, I'd be willing to accept that challenge now."

Severus smiled. "Eat your food, Harry. There will be plenty of time for that later this evening."

Harry resignedly turned back to his salmon. "You're no fun at all."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Will it get us into bed any sooner if it is?" Harry asked.

"No, eat your dinner."

Harry sighed but did as he was told; the salmon really was quite good. They ate in companionable silence, occasionally looking up to give each other a licentious smirk. Harry finished his dinner first, while Severus lingered over his last few bites, and he leaned back in his chair with his wine glass.

"How was your meal?" Severus asked.

Harry patted his stomach, "hit the spot. How was the veal?"

"Good, but not up to your standards. I still really don't understand why you would want to eat out when you can cook like that."

"I told you, I get sick of cooking all the time. It's nice to enjoy a meal every once in a while that I didn't have to cook myself."

"You eat in the Great Hall all the time."

"It's nice to enjoy a meal with _you_ that I didn't have to cook myself."

"You eat with me in the great hall all the time."

"In private, Sev," Harry clarified in exasperation. "I'm hardly able to enjoy your company when I have to censor everything I say so that I don't give away our little secret."

"You know, they all think that we hate each other," Severus said, eating his last bite of veal. "Poppy and Minerva were just berating me the other day, because I'm too mean to you, and I should make you feel more welcome. They think it's about time I set aside my prejudices and petty childhood rivalries."

Harry laughed. "Yes, I feel very threatened by your hatred of me. You really could be more accommodating. Wait until I tell Minerva that you've been chaining me to the bed and forcing me to cook you breakfast."

The waitress chose this moment to come over with their bill, but Severus didn't pay her any attention. Instead, he continued on with his conversation as she laid their bill on the table and gathered their empty dishes.

"The handcuffs were your idea, Harry. I hardly think that it's fair for you to bemoan the consequences."

Harry looked pointedly at the waitress and flushed, muttering, "_I'd meant to cuff you to the bed, not the other way around._"

"It wasn't your turn to be on top, as you well know, so I think that you knew quite well how they would be used when you took them out."

The waitress cleared her throat and gave them a disapproving look. "Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

"Do you want dessert, Harry?" Severus asked, briefly glancing over the dessert menu himself."

"No, I'm full," Harry said.

Severus' eyes widened in shock, only partially feigned. "I don't think I've ever heard those words come out of your mouth before." Harry shrugged, clearly indicating that he wanted to leave. "Very well then, no dessert."

Severus paid the bill despite their earlier conversation about finances. He neglected to leave a tip, giving the waitress one last glance, then stood and gathered his coat.

"I thought we might take a walk down by the water for a while," Severus said as they rose from the table. "Our movie doesn't start for another hour."

"We're going to a movie?" Harry asked. Sure, he'd suggested it, but he didn't think that Severus would actually go for the idea. It didn't really seem like the sort of thing he would enjoy. Severus really seemed like more of a book guy. "What movie are we going to see?" Harry asked after a moment of consideration.

"Logan's Run."

Harry cast back to his month of sitting in front of the television over the summer, but he couldn't remember having seen a preview. "I don't think I've heard of that one."

"It's older," Severus admitted. "There's a theatre in London that I go to sometimes that shows old movies on Saturday nights."

Harry pulled a face, imagining the sort of films that Severus would want to see. "It's not black and white is it? Or foreign?" Harry hated movies with subtitles. If he wanted to read, he would stay home and read a book.

"No, not black and white," Severus assured him. "It is an American film, but the lead actor is English, so we can overlook that."

Harry looked hopeful. "What's it about?"

"A futuristic totalitarian society that has accepted a strictly regimented utopian lifestyle under the rule of a supercomputer inside a giant glass dome over the freedom and uncertainty of the real world."

Harry looked doubtful.

Severus smirked a little. "And when you turn thirty, your palm starts blinking red, and these special police hunt you down and they kill you." Severus gauged Harry's response. "You'll like it."

Harry shrugged. "It might be interesting." He looked out over the sugar sand and took a deep breath of fresh air. "This is nice. Where are we?"

"After my mother died, I used to come here in the summer to stay with my grandparents. They weren't particularly welcoming people, but they were preferable to my father."

Harry fell silent. Having been abused himself, he understood where Severus was coming from, but it was still awkward; there wasn't really anything he could say that would make it all right.

Harry looked on in surprise as Severus took a seat on the pier and began to unlace his boots.

"Take your shoes off so we can walk in the sand,' Severus said softly, already removing his socks.

Harry sat down next to him and hastily pulled off his own boots with the laces still tied. He rolled his socks into a ball and stuffed them inside one boot, and Severus shrunk both pairs with a quick wave of his wand and put them in his pocket.

They set off down the beach then, and Severus once more took hold of Harry's hand.

"I never imagined it would be like this," Harry said, hating the way it sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Like what?" Severus asked, pulling Harry closer.

"Warm. Back when I first came to grips with my feelings for you," this had been about the time Severus lay bleeding in his arms, so close to death that Harry couldn't tell the difference, "I imagined what it might be like to actually date you, and this isn't what I thought it would be like at all." Harry finished by giving Severus' hand a significant squeeze.

"What did you imagine it would be like?"

Harry shrugged. "I didn't think I would have a snowball's chance in hell of stimulating you intellectually, so I guess I just assumed that we would have a purely physical relationship."

"And, you would have been satisfied with that?"

"I would have been content: not happy necessarily, but yes, satisfied." Harry flushed a little. "Better a sex-filled relationship with someone I love than a more meaningful relationship with someone I only care about."

Severus seemed to think about this for a moment. "Well, _I_ wouldn't be satisfied. I've been in purely physical relationships before. There have been times in my life when a true lover was a liability I could not afford, but the occasional bout of casual sex was merely a physical necessity and not at all fulfilling emotionally."

They came to a halt in front of a patio swing placed out on the beach, and Severus led Harry over so that they could take a seat before continuing.

"In any case, I do find you intellectually stimulating, and, even if I didn't, I could still have more than a physical relationship with you, because I find you emotionally stimulating as well. I admire your character, and we have a compatible world view, and I love you, so it is not necessary to be constantly worrying about how clever you are when it's your personality and who you are at the core that I really love. Anyway, this is all so foolishly sentimental. I suppose that's what I get for dating a Gryffindor, but isn't it possible for us to enjoy one another's company without constantly talking about it?"

"You love me?" Harry asked, beaming.

"Didn't you listen to anything I said after that?"

"Oh, _yeah,_" Harry said, smirking, "foolishly sentimental Gryffindor, I remember." Harry pulled his legs up under him on the swing and curled into Severus' chest. "I can tone it back," he said gently.

"That would be appreciated."

They sat there for a long time in silence, watching the sun wester, until Severus broke the silence.

"We should get going. I assume that you plan to consume large quantities of popcorn, so we should get there a little early in case we have to wait in line at the concession stand."

"I get popcorn?' Harry asked, eagerly getting to his feet.

"We're going to a movie, of course you get popcorn, and you had better not eat it all, because you have to share some with me."

Harry grinned. "Just in case I get too preoccupied with the unrestricted marathon sex later, I had a really good time tonight."

"What did I say, Potter?"

"No sentimental overly-Gryffindor-type remarks," Harry said, stepping up to wrap his arms around Severus so that they could apparate. "So, what then? Something more suitably Slytherin?"

"Dear Harry, you couldn't act suitably Slytherin if your life depended on it."

"I could," Harry protested.

"You're Gryffindor to the core," Severus retorted. "It's too ingrained in your personality for you to be anything but."

"I'll have you know, the Sorting Hat would have put me in Slytherin if I hadn't been so hell bent against it."

"Why didn't you want to be in Slytherin?" Severus asked, after their conversation was momentarily interrupted with the unpleasant sensation of their unannounced apparition.

"I met this kid named Draco Malfoy on the train," Harry said, smirking and stepping away from Severus.

They had apparated to one of a dozen or so designated apparition points scattered throughout muggle London. They were cloaked from muggle perception so that wizards could apparate into heavily populated areas without having to worry about being seen by the muggles. Even so, they had a bit of a walk to the theatre.

"So, why do you think the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin?" Severus continued in a low voice as they walked out onto the busy street. "You're so abysmally Gryffindor, that I can't imagine why it would want to put you anywhere else."

"Dumbledore thought that it was because I absorbed some of Voldemort's powers when he tried to kill me."

"You mean the Parseltongue," Severus clarified.

"Yes, but I'm not sure he was right. I mean, I think that's part of it, and I am from a longstanding wizarding family even if my mother was muggle-born, but I think that a lot of the qualities that would have made me a good Slytherin are my own, and have nothing to do with anything I may have absorbed from Voldemort. Though, I suppose, that my personality was shaped at an early age from experiences that never would have happened if Voldemort hadn't killed my parents, so I guess the initial cause is the same either way." It was true; it seemed that everything in his life could be traced back to Lord Voldemort.

Severus took a moment to think this over. "No, I still don't think you would make a very good Slytherin. Maybe, when you were eleven, we could have molded you into a proper snake, but it's much too late for you now; you're hopelessly Gryffindor: brash, sentimental, self-sacrificing, foolhardy, and reckless."

"Slytherins aren't reckless?" Harry asked in a tone that was clearly disbelieving.

"Not with our own lives," Severus answered.

The disbelieving look didn't leave his face as he eyed Severus pointedly. "I could've been in Slytherin if I wanted to, and I'm going to prove it to you."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to act like a Slytherin for the rest of the night."

Severus raised an eyebrow at this statement, but didn't say anything.

They turned a corner and came within view of a matinee sign proclaiming that The Saturn Theatre was currently showing Logan's Run.

Severus held the door open for Harry, and they queued for the tickets. Harry smirked a little at the long line and affected a put upon expression. "I don't see why we should have to stand in line," Harry whined. "Why don't we just hex them all and take our rightful place at the front of the line." The whiny drawl was such a perfect imitation of Draco when he had been a child that Severus couldn't help but laugh.

"Very amusing, Harry, but you have proven nothing save that you buy into all the Slytherin stereotypes and can do a passable impression of Draco," Severus said as they stepped forward another place in line.

Harry noticed that most of the crowd standing in line was made up of men in their early to mid-forties of a particularly nerdy sect, and it gave him something of an idea: a very Slytherin idea. He eyed the kid working the counter. He was about seventeen, acne, prominent Adam's apple, annoyed expression. _Oh yeah, this could definitely work. _

"You want proof, do you?" Harry asked, stepping forward so that they were second-to-next in line to the front.

Severus didn't really like the look on Harry's face. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm going to use all my Slytherin qualities, cunning, subterfuge, deception, to get us into this movie free of charge, and then I'm going to turn on the Gryffindor charm and see to it that we get some free concessions without having to wait in line anymore."

"And how are you going to do that?" Severus asked, not believing for one second.

"Watch and learn," Harry boasted, and then he hastily pulled off his glasses and stuck them in front pocket of his shirt, messed his hair even more, and adopted an arrogant grin that completely morphed his face into something almost unrecognizable.

"Two adults," the kid behind the counter said, hardly looking up. "That's fourteen pound fifty."

"Actually, my boss sent a pair of tickets over for us. They should be under Harry. She said that they would be waiting at the front desk." Harry had changed his voice to something a little deeper, giving it a self-confident air. He continued talking as the kid looked for tickets that weren't there. "I just got hired on at the Strand, and they have me doing this fluff piece for next week's edition. They hired me to add a youthful point of view and then they give me stories like this," Harry complained. "Can you believe that?"

"You're a reporter?" The kid gave him a second glance.

"If you can even call it that, when this is the kind of thing that they have me reporting on." Harry paused, turning his head to the side as though thinking, and gave the kid an appraising glance. "Actually, would you mind giving me a quick interview? It would give the article a different spin if I could get an employee's view of the theatre's cult Sci-Fi patronage. Maybe the whole evening won't be a total loss then."

The kid looked more than willing, and he was nodding eagerly as Harry continued on with his tirade.

"Like I don't have better things to do with a Saturday evening than research for a filler story about a bunch of middle-aged guys who live in their parent's basements and have Starfleet uniforms in their closets. There aren't even any chicks here." Harry leaned forward and continued whispering conspiratorially. "Gramps here isn't much better," he whispered, twitching his head to the side to indicate Severus and smiling an arrogant but winning grin.

The kid behind the counter didn't even bother trying to hide his laughter. "I don't seem to be able to find those tickets, Mr…"

"Evans," Harry supplied easily, just in case someone in the crowd wasn't entirely muggle. He didn't think that his mother's maiden name would draw any undue attention, though he could feel Severus stiffen behind him as the name left his lips.

The kid behind the counter didn't seem to notice. "But, hey, listen, I'm sure that they'll turn up, so I'll just let you guys through, and we won't worry about it."

"Excellent," Harry said, flashing the kid another grin. "Are you going to be around after the film so I can get that interview?"

"I get off at midnight, but I can stick around a little later; it's no problem."

"Fantastic," another flash of a smile, "one other thing, they need a review on the concessions. Do you think you could hook us up with a couple sodas and some popcorn?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Evans," the kid agreed eagerly.

"Thank you," Harry made a show of reading the kid's nametag. "Sam, is it?"

"Sam Wilkinson, sir," the kid answered. "If you'll come right this way I can get those sodas for you." He gestured for another boy to take his place as he led them over to the concession stand and procured the promised items. "If there's anything else you need, Mr. Evans, you just let me know," he said, as he handed a popcorn to Severus.

"I'll be sure to do that," Harry said, "and I'll be looking for that interview, so think about what you want to say."

With that, he and Severus left the kid, entering the darkened screening room. They found seats toward the back where no one would notice them, and Harry put his glasses back on.

"That was easier than I thought," Harry whispered, illustrating his point by leaning over and taking the tub of popcorn from Severus.

"Indeed," Severus said, "quite remarkable. Wherever did you learn to lie like that?"

"You don't honestly think that I've spent all this time with you without picking up a thing or two." Harry whispered back.

Severus shook his head in disbelief. "What are you going to do when he expects to give his interview when we leave?"

"We'll sneak into the men's room to apparate back to Hogsmede," Harry explained. "My plan is flawless." He grinned, popping a kernel of popcorn into his mouth.

"And, what about your Gryffindor morality? Don't you feel guilty about lying to that boy?"

Harry shrugged. "No harm, no foul. He'll recover from the disappointment. Meanwhile, I'm possessed with an overwhelming sense of vindication."

"Ah yes, you have most definitely proven your ability to be devious if you choose. I apologize that I ever should have doubted you."

"And right you should," Harry claimed loudly, and then in a lower voice he added, "Does that mean I can drop the act?"

"By all means."

Harry let out a sigh. "I thought for sure that kid was going to call my bluff." Harry mulled it over for a second. "Still, I could pass for Slytherin if I absolutely had to."

"Hush now," Severus said, nudging him. "The movie's starting."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Well?" Severus asked as they left the theatre a couple hours later. "What did you think?"

"I think that if it had been 1976, that would have been the greatest movie I'd ever seen. I'm not sure it holds up today. Even so, it was pretty good." Harry smiled. "I liked the old man with all the cats."

"Well, I'm glad you liked the movie," Severus said as they slipped off into the gent's, "because it's the last one we'll be able to see here. You realize, of course, that your little stunt at the ticket counter has eliminated the possibility of us ever coming here again."

Harry shrugged. "We can always just cast a glamour before we come next time, or I can come up with a really good reason why we had to take off: breaking news somewhere in the city. We had to reschedule the article; it could get us in for free again."

"Very devious," Severus praised, "but hardly necessary. I would feel much more comfortable if we simply paid next time."

"Of course," Harry allowed. He pulled out his wand. "Shall we?"

There were two loud pops as the two men currently sharing stall number three disappeared.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It was almost midnight, and Hogsmede was pretty much completely deserted. From the sound of it, there was some raucous goings on at the Hogshead. Harry even thought he could hear Hagrid's voice over the din, but the streets were deserted.

"It's freezing," Harry said, huddling into Severus' side.

"Well, let's get back up to the castle and get you warmed up then," Severus said, putting an arm around Harry's shoulder.

"Why yes," Harry said, "I think we should."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Damian Warrick sat straight up in bed and looked around his darkened dormitory. He was alone in the room, or at least he appeared to be. His canopied four-poster bed sat solitary under the largest window in the room.

"Lumos," he whispered, grabbing for his wand on the nightstand. The tip ignited a split second before his hand touched wood. He held his wand high and scanned the room again. It still appeared empty, but he had a very strong feeling that he was not alone.

Generally, Damian trusted his gut feelings, so he went on the assumption that there was indeed someone or something else in the room, and he simply couldn't see it. "Nox," he whispered, lowering his wand, and the room was once more bathed in darkness. If he couldn't see them, then he didn't want them to see him either, He would have a better knowledge of this room and the corridor beyond in the dark than anyone else.

He got out of bed and moved toward the door as quickly and as quietly as he could. At least, that was the plan, but the sheets caught around his ankles and he fell to the floor with a thud.

He scrambled to get to his feet, but he didn't make it any further than a low crouch before something hit him across the back, and he fell back onto his chest on the floor. A second later every muscle in his body began to spasm and the darkness was replaced by white hot agony as his vision clouded over with the pain.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus was not pleased. He'd done his part. He'd avoided sarcasm as much as possible. He'd embraced romance: shudder to think. He had behaved like a perfect gentleman, and now it was time to reap the benefits. There was just one problem: about 36x58, oil on canvas, currently going by the name of Greggory.

"This was amusing for a while," Severus growled through gritted teeth. "But you've tried my last nerve, and I'm a patient man." Severus rolled his sleeve back and pulled out his wand.

Harry stepped between his lover and his doorman. "You can't do that, Sev," he said, spreading his arms wide to cover the portrait. Greg peeked out under Harry's left armpit.

"Why not?" he asked, lowering his wand.

"Because, not only would you be depriving me of the security of a gatekeeper, you would also be killing Bertram, who I quite like. He can't help it if his alternate personality is a no-account dick wad."

Severus raised an eyebrow at the unique choice of words and gloried in the resulting blush.

"I am not a dick wad," Greggory protested. "I am misanthropic and crass, occasionally a bit of a bastard, but I am most certainly not a dick wad. Of course, I wouldn't expect a couple of shirt-lifting pillow-biters like you to know the difference!"

Harry bit his lip, cocking his head just slightly to one side. "On the other hand," he said after a moment, stepping aside. "Go ahead, Sev."

The portrait swung open.

Severus grabbed the corner of the frame and tried to shove it closed again so that he could do as Harry asked, but the frame pulled against him. He added another hand to give it a good pull, but Harry put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Leave it, we have better things to do." Harry stepped over the threshold into his quarters. "We can do something in the morning; maybe donate him to the psych ward at St. Mungo's."

Severus smirked. "I rather like that idea."

"I thought you would," Harry said, grabbing a handful of Severus' shirt to pull him in. "Now, if you don't mind, I require your services in the bedroom."

"I give, and I give, and I give," Severus said with feigned annoyance.

"Well, actually," Harry whispered into Severus' ear, pausing to bite softly at the lobe. "I was actually thinking of the other way around."

Severus smiled, "I suppose we could leave the portrait until tomorrow."

"Good," Harry said as the portrait closed behind them, and he bent to unlace his boots. He finished and went into the bedroom just as Severus was starting on his other boot.

"Damn," Severus cursed, walking halfway across the sitting room as he finished unlacing his second boot and pulled it off, tossing it casually onto one of the chairs as he hurried to follow Harry.

When he got to the bedroom, Harry had lit most of the candles and stood naked in front of the bed with his back to the door. Severus admired the play of candlelight across the tanned skin of Harry's lightly muscled back. He stepped forward to run one hand across that smooth skin, starting at Harry's shoulder blade and then brushing his fingertips down the curve of the younger man's spine. Harry caught the hand before it could go any lower, and he turned around, stepping forward to press his naked erection against Severus' clothed form.

Harry closed his eyes and let out a low moan, biting his lip hard to put a cap on the pleasure so that he could concentrate enough to pull off Severus' waistcoat and unbutton his shirt. He slipped the soft fabric down over Severus' shoulders, and, in the same movement, brushed his hands down over Severus' back and down to the waistband oh his trousers. As he did so, Harry got down on his knees just as Severus' shirt slipped free of the man's wrists and fell to the floor. Harry nipped at Severus through the thin fabric of the man's trousers as he unfastened the belt and began on the buttons, impatiently wishing that the man would take some time to learn about zippers.

When Harry finally freed his lover from the last of his garments, Severus too was fully erect, and Harry gave him a few moments of attention, before making his way back to the man's lips and then leading him over to the bed.

Severus leaned back against the pillows, more than happy to let Harry take the lead as he went down on him again. Harry cut his ministrations short though, and Severus let out a whimper of disappointment. Harry came back up, pressing his chest against Severus', and pressed a finger against his lips.

"Patience is a virtue," Harry whispered. He got up from the bed and padded across the room to retrieve the lube from the top of the dresser.

"I know how to be patient, Potter," Severus said, as Harry returned.

Harry climbed back up on the bed, straddling Severus' chest as he squirted a generous amount of lube into his palm. He cocked his head to the side as he spread the lubricant over his fingers. "Do you want to put that to the test?"

Severus bucked his hips up, momentarily unseating Harry. "Not tonight."

Harry smiled, readjusting his weight for a more secure position. He wrapped his fingers around Severus' right wrist and held it up above his head, lightly restraining him. Harry pressed his lips against Severus' in a heated kiss as he slipped first one and then two fingers into the man beneath him.

Severus let out a gasp and squirmed under Harry. Harry stilled his fingers, allowing Severus to adjust, and distracted him with another kiss. He moved down Severus' jaw as he scissored his fingers and elicited another gasp as he nipped at Severus' nipple.

Severus was thrusting against Harry now, alternately rubbing his erection against Harry's and thrusting back onto Harry's fingers.

Their breathing was heavy now, expressions a mixture of pleasure and exertion. Harry pulled out quickly, giving Severus' erection a few pumps to make up for the loss while he spread the rest of the lubricant on his own erection. In one fluid motion, Harry pulled up Severus' hips and seated himself fully. Severus' mouth opened in surprise, and he was silent for a split second until Harry pulled back slightly and thrust back in, and Severus let out a deep moan.

Harry pulled Severus against him as he thrust, and held him still against him with all his strength, pressing Severus' captive wrist against the mattress.

Severus' breathing became heavy and shallow as he shuddered beneath Harry, and he let out a groan as he came hot against Harry's stomach. Harry slowed his thrusts then, exacting more care with each thrust while Severus continued to shudder with the end of his orgasm.

Harry fought back his own orgasm, slowing his movement and focusing on Severus' lips. He still held Severus tightly against him, and he rested his weight against the other man's chest as he focused on the man beneath him.

Within a few moments, he could feel Severus grow hard again, and he sped the thrust of his hips again, finally letting himself go. He lost all control in that moment, floating on a rush of sensation as Severus lasted only a matter of seconds before he reached his second orgasm.

Harry held out for a second longer out of stubborn defiance, but he couldn't last any longer and he stifled his final gasp against Severus' shoulder as he collapsed. He was utterly still for the space of a moment, reveling in his little moment of sated peace, but it wasn't to last.

Harry's satisfaction was interrupted as the very last person he wanted to see at that very moment entered the room.

"Sever-" Minerva began, squinting into the gloom of the half-lit room, but it was cut off as her eyes adjusted and she let out a startled scream.

" Now what's the matter?" came Slughorn's voice from the hall, and the man himself lumbered into the room. "Oh my!"

This was about when Harry's initial shock disappeared, and he quickly rolled off of Severus and pulled the blankets up to cover both of them.

Fortunately, Minerva was still in shock, because she was still gaping and hadn't started shouting yet. Slughorn, on the other hand, looked almost approving. Well, that figures, if anyone was going to support sleeping with former students, it was Horace Slughorn.

That was about the time that Draco arrived, panting and out of breath.

"Just found out," Draco explained between deep gasping breaths, arms planted on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "I tried to head them off… ran all the way here….guess I didn't make it… sorry guys."

Minerva looked between Draco and the men in the bed, and it seemed that disapproval finally won out over shock.

"What in Merlin's beard is going on around here?"

"Would you people get the hell out of here already?" Severus yelled as his anger won over his own shock and the fear that Minerva might simply hex him into oblivion.

"Yes, yes, let's give the boys a chance to get dressed before we start screaming at them," Slughorn said, taking McGonagall by the elbow to lead her back into Harry's sitting room.

Draco gave them one last apologetic look before following the others out into the hall.

Severus flicked his wand at the door and it slammed closed.

Harry shut his eyes tight and let out a deep sigh. He wished he could ignore the whole situation and make it go away. "Shit, Sev. What are we going to do now?"

"Get dressed and go find out what was so important that Minerva insisted upon bursting in here in the middle of the night."

"You want us to go out there?" Harry looked horrified at the very thought.

"Come on, Potter. Where's your Gryffindor courage?"

"Where's your Slytherin self-preservation?"

Severus was already putting on his trousers. "It could be worse."

"McGonagall just caught us in bed together. How could it possibly be worse?"

"She could have caught me on top, at least this way she can't accuse me of coercing you." Severus picked Harry's boxers up off the floor and threw them at him.

"Ten galleons says she does anyway," Harry said, finally getting out of bed and starting to get dressed.

"That's a fool's bet," Severus said. "I was just trying to find an up-side to all of this."

"Yeah, well there really isn't one."

"What exactly are you planning to do when we get out there?" Harry asked, hastily pulling on his shirt.

"Nothing. Our personal life is none of their business."

"You really think McGonagall is going to let it go that easily?"

"Of course not, but we're both consenting adults, and she won't want this to get out any more than we do, so what's she going to do about it?" Severus did the last button on his shirt and straightened the collar. "Besides, there's obviously some school business that needs tended to first, so her disapproval will have to take a backburner. As long as it's nothing too serious, I should be able to get it taken care of quickly, and then we can get back to what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted."

Harry zipped up his trousers and went to the door. "You're sure?" Harry asked, hand paused on the handle.

"Of course," Severus leaned over and gave Harry a chaste kiss.

Harry nodded grimly and proceeded out into the hall.

McGonagall, Slughorn, and Draco were all sitting uncomfortably on the sofa, so Severus and Harry were forced to sit in the armchairs on opposite sides of the room. Harry felt exceedingly vulnerable sitting by himself with Minerva staring alternately at him and Severus.

There was a tense moment of silence before Severus said, "Now, would someone please tell me what was so important that you needed to disturb me in the middle of the night on a weekend."

Minerva looked like she was warring between her desire to completely ignore what she'd just seen and her desire to start yelling. In the end, her duties as Deputy Headmistress won out.

"Damian Warrick has been attacked."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I'm sorry that was bad narrating. She sure is talking about that Warrick kid a lot. Hey, do you think it'll come back later? I hate that, like the tv showing footage of the new power plant. Gee I wonder where the climax will happen? Or that shot of the cook in Hunt for Red October…

The first person to tell me what movie I shamelessly stole that from gets a free drabble 100-500 words of the pairing or general theme of their choice, provided it's something I've heard of.

So yeah, I know I've been awful with the updates lately, but I've been really busy. I am going to try to finish this story up this summer though, so you can expect another chapter in a couple weeks. Anyway, hit the button and let me know what you think. If you don't like the direction the story's going, or even if you have minor housekeeping issues, please let me know. All feedback is appreciated. Praise is welcome too.


	12. Sunday Under Glass

Author's Note: I'm leaning more towards more lengthy chapters lately, so here's another long one. Also, no one successfully answered my challenge from the end of the previous chapter, so it remains open. Here's a clue: one of the two main characters in the movie played Batman, but I'm not going to tell you which one, except that it's not Clooney, because Batman & Robin sucked so bad it doesn't even count.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by someone, but I don't remember who. My laptop broke, and I bought a netbook to tide me over until I can bring it somewhere to get fixed, so I lost my media library and I can't check

xXxXxXxXxXx

Give Me Life

Chapter Twelve

Sunday Under Glass

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Damian?" Harry immediately got to his feet, and he was halfway across the room before he even realized that he had stood up. "What happened?"

"No one really knows," Minerva answered. "His injuries are concurrent with a dragon attack, but it occurred in his quarters, and, from Mr. Warrick's description of the attack, it sounds like the cruciatus was used."

Harry's hand subconsciously moved to cover his mouth. How could anyone use the cruciatus on an eleven year old child? Sure, worse things had happened to him in his lifetime, but still. Voldemort was dead, his Deatheaters disbanded or imprisoned; who would do such a thing now?

"He's okay though?" Harry wanted to know that much. "If he can describe what happened, then that must mean he's okay."

"Poppy's assured us that he'll be fine," Slughorn said. "He has some bruises, a few broken ribs, some minor burns, and a spinal injury. Poppy has him under sedation now, but she'll soon have him sorted out." Slughorn was being his usual jovial self, as though this was really no big deal. Harry who'd had plenty of injuries magically healed, knew better. The ribs and bruises could be healed easily enough, but a spinal injury could take weeks to heal, and, depending on what kind of dragon it was, he could have serious burn scars.

"I want to hear this from Pomfrey directly," Severus said finally. "There's no way anyone could get a dragon into the castle without setting off the wards; there has to be another explanation."

Draco gave Harry a meaningful glance.

"Actually," Harry said, already kicking himself for opening his fool mouth. "It is possible. If the dragon were smuggled onto school grounds as an egg and then hatched here, it wouldn't set off the wards, and dragons grow pretty fast, so…" Harry trailed off as he noticed the looks his three former professors were giving him. "Of course, that wouldn't explain the cruciatus, so it seems much more likely that someone cast a curse that mimicked a dragon attack."

Severus gave him a skeptical look. "Like what?"

Harry cast around for something that would fit, but came up blank. "I don't know," he said. Then, after a moment he added sheepishly. "Hermione usually does this part. I'm just saying; don't rule out dragons just yet. It's still a possibility."

"It wouldn't even have to be a real dragon," McGonagall offered. "Someone could have transfigured one from another animal: a large dog or one of the school's thestrals would suffice."

"Are any of your students capable of that?" Severus asked.

McGonagall took a while to consider it. "I have two students that could probably manage it with enough practice, but they're both seventh year Ravenclaws, so I don't see any reason that they would be in the first year's Slytherin dormitory."

"It wouldn't necessarily have to be a student," Draco added in.

"Well, as much as I like playing detective, I would really like to speak with the boy directly before we go jumping to conclusions."

Severus retrieved his boots from where he'd discarded them halfway across the sitting room floor. "Of course, I hold no illusions that Poppy's going to let me talk to him until tomorrow, but I'd be satisfied with taking a look at his injuries for myself."

"We'll come with you," Minerva said, standing herself.

Harry quietly pulled on his boots and followed them out the door. He lagged behind for a moment so he could have a word with his portrait.

"You told them," Harry hissed.

Greggory had a self-satisfied smirk plastered across his face. "No, Albus told them where they could find the Headmaster. I simply let them in."

"Isn't it your job to not let people in?" Harry growled.

"They assured me that it was an emergency."

Harry scowled, but the others were already rounding the corner into the stairwell, and Harry had to rush to keep up. When he finally did catch up, they were already on their second flight of stairs, and Mcgonagall put a hand on Harry's shoulder to hold him back for a private word.

"How long has this been going on?" She asked in a whisper.

"Greg?" Harry asked, dumbly. "He's schizophrenic. As far as I know he's always been an ass." Harry hoped that his deliberate misinterpretation of McGonagall's question would convince her to leave the subject alone: unfortunately, no dice.

"Don't play games with me, Mr. Potter," she snapped, "how long?"

Harry shrugged. "Officially? About a week and a half I guess."

Minerva let out a quiet sigh. "Never while you were in school?"

"As a student?" Harry asked, a little shocked that she would even consider it. "Of course not. He hated me, and I thought he was working for Voldemort." This wasn't the whole truth, but it was sufficient to answer Minerva's question.

"And yet, I was under the impression that your opinions of one another were pretty much the same."

"Well, clearly, that's not the case." Severus interrupted. He'd fallen behind and had caught the end of their conversation.

"Clearly," Minerva agreed stiffly.

"And our personal life is none of your business."

"I just don't understand how something like this happened," she mumbled to herself. "And as long as you're both employees at this school, your personal lives are my business."

"How exactly do you figure that?" Severus asked.

"All inter-office relationships need to be cleared through the Headmaster. Since, in this case, he's one of the participants in said relationship that duty falls to me."

"You know as well as I do, Minerva, that that rule was only made to ensure that there's no mess with accusations of sexual harassment."

"And I should think that the Headmaster sleeping with one of the new professors, and not telling anyone about it, would create just those sorts of accusations," Minerva scolded.

"I knew," Draco piped in, falling back a step to enter the conversation.

Slughorn now led the group, walking about ten paces ahead of everyone else.

"See, Draco knew," Harry said, pointing at him.

"And now you and Mr. Malfoy are suddenly on a first name basis," Minerva sounded weak. "This must be what going crazy feels like."

Harry chuckled. He couldn't help it; the look of complete befuddlement on his usually self-assured head of house was priceless.

"All the same," McGonagall said, readopting her usual stern expression. "This should have been cleared with me."

"It's not your decision," Severus said. "Nothing you can say or do will make the slightest difference."

Minerva looked put-off by this. "For your own security, Severus. Do you have any idea what a secret relationship with Harry Potter is going to do to your reputation? Not to mention the reputation of the school."

Severus frowned. "Wait a second, you're worried about_ me_?"

"If I don't worry about you, who do you suppose will?" Minerva asked. "Harry has half the world looking out for him. You don't have very many people left, Severus."

"I don't need protecting, Minerva."

"Yeah, well you've been making some pretty stupid decisions for someone who's got it all worked out."

"Can we talk about something else please? How about the rather pressing matter of one of our students having been brutally attacked on school grounds in his own bedroom? Do you think that maybe that requires our attention?"

Minerva gave him a look of mild disapproval. "Don't act like a petulant child, Severus."

"Petulant." Severus' eyes had narrowed: the only delineation between his usual distaste for the world in general and bellowing at the top of his lungs and hexing you unconscious. Harry had a lot of experience with all three.

"I'm in charge around here, Minerva. That's what Albus decided on. That's what you agreed to, and you need to start respecting my decisions and stop arguing over every single little choice that I make. You need to let me do my job."

"And has it occurred to you that I'm only doing _my_ job?" Minerva asked.

"What do you mean?"

"As Deputy Headmistress, I'm your second in command. It's my job to challenge your decisions and present contrary opinion. If you had been paying attention, you might have noticed that I did the exact same thing to Albus."

Severus seemed to consider this for a while and said finally. "I appreciate your opinion, Minerva, but you really have no right to make decisions about who I can and cannot see personally, so I would appreciate it if you kept your opinions on that matter to yourself."

"Fine!" Minerva said, raising her hands in surrender. "You're right; it's none of my business. But, mind you tread carefully on this one, Severus, there's a good chance it's going to blow up in your face."

"You know, I'm right here," Harry said, feeling as though Minerva didn't think very highly of him.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about you dear," Minerva said, still giving Severus a dirty look. "I just don't think that Severus knows what he's doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing, Minerva," Severus spat back. They were closing the distance on Slughorn now, as they approached the infirmary doors.

Minerva sighed. "I assume you have some sort of plan for when the Prophet and the Ministry get wind of this."

"We've been perfectly discreet," Severus said in a low whisper as they strayed a few feet from the infirmary door, "and, if you knew how to knock, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

Minerva flushed a little. "Harry's portrait let us in, and the bedroom door was open. It didn't occur to me that there would be anything to interrupt."

"Well, obviously, if the thought never even occurred to you, then our efforts have been effective. If there comes a time when that is no longer the case, I will deal with the media fallout if and when it becomes a problem. If need be, I can resign."

Harry's eyes widened in horror at the very idea, "You can't!"

Severus waved off his protests. "I doubt it will come to that, but, if it does, so be it. By all rights, the job should be Minerva's anyway. I don't know what Albus was thinking."

"You can't resign," Harry pressed. "You belong here. I'll resign."

"You belong here more than I do, Harry," Severus said. "I can make a comfortable living brewing for potion shops or the ministry."

"And I could make a more than comfortable living playing Qudditch for England! You don't make much of an argument, Sev."

Severus shut his eyes tight and let out a sigh. "I wasn't making an argument; I was making a decision, but we are not going to discuss this now. I have work to do, Harry, and you are more than welcome to go back to bed."

"That's one of my best students in there; I'm staying."

"Then, shut up and be helpful."

Minerva gave Severus an inscrutable look. Harry just swatted his arm and made to say something sarcastic, but he was interrupted as Madam Pomfrey came billowing toward the double doors, threw them open, and swept out into the hallway.

She looked around at the five people standing outside the door with a mix of dread and anger, before she focused on Severus and it turned to pure anger.

"Severus Tobias Snape! I absolutely will not allow the lot of you to give that boy some sick version of the Spanish Inquisition at two in the morning when he needs rest and quiet!"

Severus set his jaw and gave her a firm look in return. "I don't need to talk to him tonight, but I do need to see his injuries and get a better idea of how serious his condition is. Would it be prudent to send him to St. Mungo's?"

"Oh no," Poppy dismissed the idea quickly. "He'll be fine in a few days. He just needs some time for the potions and spells to take effect."

Harry felt a little of his nervous worry melt away at this last assurance from Madam Pomfrey.

She looked them over again and still had a look of disapproval on her face. "You can see him if you must, but certainly not all at once."

"Ah, well," said Slughorn. "I brought the boy down myself, so, if you think you have this well in hand, Severus, I think I'll just toddle off to bed."

"Go ahead, Horace, we can take it from here," Severus said, glad to be rid of the man, and Slughorn headed off towards the dungeons.

Severus turned his attention back to Harry and gave him a questioning look.

"I'll wait and come inside in a bit; I think I need a minute," Harry responded.

"Draco, wait here with Harry," Severus said, and he went into the infirmary with Minerva and Poppy, the door slamming closed in their wake.

Draco grumbled about being ordered around, but Harry ignored him. He slumped down into a seated position against the wall across from the infirmary doors.

"Can you be quiet for a minute, Malfoy? I need to concentrate."

Draco gave him a funny look but obliged, for the moment anyway.

Harry closed his eyes and gathered his magic; it was difficult because he was under a lot more stress than he had been that morning, and he had a hard time clearing his mind, but, once he managed to get his inner turmoil under control, the link to the castle came easily.

The upsurge of magical energy and mixture of emotions came so suddenly that he was very glad he'd taken the added precaution of sitting down.

"What the hell are you doing, Potter?" Draco asked. Harry could tell by the tone of his voice that Draco was giving him that patented look of Malfoy distaste.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry snapped, taking a second to regain his focus and shift through all the added sensations he was experiencing to try to figure out what Hogwarts was trying to tell him.

It was mostly worry, Harry decided, but there was also another underlying emotion that he couldn't quite figure out. Was it guilt?

"Show me what happened," Harry said, adding a little nudge of his own magic.

"What?" Draco asked.

Harry sighed. "If you can't just shut up and let me concentrate, Malfoy, I'm going to petrify you." Harry still refused to open his eyes, but he could hear Malfoy move off down the corridor, grumbling.

That was all the attention he could spare though, because the castle was projecting an image into his mind.

It was dark at first, but then there was a burst of wand light that illuminated the room, clearly Damian's dormitory by the solitary four-poster bed. The wand light moved back and forth across the room, periodically illuminating Damian's strained face. Then the lights went out, and the room was once more darkened, but this time Harry could see the vague shape of Damian falling to the ground as he tripped over his sheets. He watched as Damian struggled to his feet for a split second before some invisible force caused him to fall back to the ground, and then Damian was writhing on the floor in pain.

Harry grimaced inwardly. "Can you show me who did it?"

There was only an image of darkness. Harry had figured as much: things were never that simple.

"Alright, alright," Harry wondered if there was anything he was missing. "One last thing then, why was the link broken? Why didn't you alert me when this was going on?"

Harry had a clear image of Severus and him walking off school grounds and disapparating.

"Because we left? The link was broken because we were too far away, and then I didn't bother to reestablish it."

Affirmation.

Well, that made sense really. He had assumed that there would be some kind of proximity factor with the magical link. It didn't seem unlikely that leaving school grounds would break the connection.

"Thanks," Harry said, patting the cold stone wall. He offered up another nugget of his magical energy and was rewarded by a surge of warmth in his chest.

Harry got unsteadily to his feet and brushed off his trousers.

"What the hell was that, Potter? Who were you talking to?" Malfoy asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

"I asked the castle what happened to Damian Warrick," Harry said. He walked over to the infirmary doors and cupped his hands to the glass to peer inside.

"You asked…the castle," Draco said slowly, as if only half indulging in a crazy person's warped delusion.

"It's complicated. If you're really curious I can explain it sometime, but not right now." Harry dropped his hands to the door handles. "Do you think Madam Pomfrey will have a fit of we go in there now?"

"Yes," Draco said, stepping up next to Harry to have a look for himself. "But, I'm tired of waiting out here, so let's chance it anyway."

Harry pulled the doors open, and they both entered as quietly as they could. Severus and Minerva were talking quietly with Poppy a few feet from Damian's bedside.

Harry continued past them, approaching the bed apprehensively. Damian was sleeping on his stomach. His injured back was bare and exposed. A large dark bruise spread from Damian's right shoulder in a thick line down to the left side of his lower back. Scattered burns extended from his left shoulder down his entire left arm.

The bedside table was covered with tiny glass vials, larger bottles, and containers of various creams in a variety of different colors. Harry knew all of his injuries were in the process of healing, but he had to swallow the lump in his throat anyway. He touched his fingers to the edge of the mattress. He didn't want to hurt the boy by touching him, but he needed that tangible assurance of reality.

Draco stopped a meter from the foot of the bed, staring at Damian's back in shocked horror.

Harry gave the bed a gentle pat and then turned to Severus.

"He'll be alright," Severus said in a whisper. "He just needs rest. I know it looks horrible, but he'll be awake tomorrow, and it won't seem so bad."

Minerva and Poppy were nodding their agreement, but Harry thought that the sentiment was a little loaded.

Severus reached over and touched Harry lightly on the elbow. "We should go. We can come back tomorrow and question him."

Harry nodded.

"Draco?" Severus asked. Draco finally glanced away from Damian and looked questioningly to Severus. "If you don't mind, I'd like a word."

With that, the three bid Minerva and Poppy goodnight and left the infirmary.

Severus let out a sigh and buried his face in his hands as soon as they were out of sight. "That was definitely a dragon attack. Hagrid will have to take a look to find out what kind, but that was definitely a dragon, and if the boy is describing the cruciatus, I'm inclined to believe him."

"I don't think he would make anything up," Harry supported. "He doesn't seem the type."

"Then, that means that someone brought a dragon onto school grounds and used an unforgiveable on one of the students." Severus let out another sigh. "We're going to have to beef up security until we figure out who did this. And we need to find out more about Damian Warrick. He might have more going on in his background than we know about. If he can manipulate magical energy at the age of eleven as well as you say he can, Harry, then I do not think that it is out of the realm of possibility that there's a lot more to Mr. Warrick than meets the eye. I'll talk to him tomorrow, try to get to know him, and maybe things will become clear."

Harry and Draco gave him matching looks of skepticism.

"That might not be the best plan," Harry said carefully.

"Yeah," Draco agreed. "You're not really the friendly reassuring sort; you're more threatening and intimidating. Make Potter do it."

"I am just as capable of earning Mr. Warrick's trust as Potter is," Severus protested. "He is a Slytherin after all; his natural dislike of all things Gryffindor puts Harry at a disadvantage."

"Except, Potter's his favorite teacher."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Really?" Severus considered it. "Obviously he has a natural aptitude for defensive magic and prefers Harry because he teaches the boy's favorite subject."

"What?" harry said, giving Severus an amused look. "Didn't it occur to you that I might actually be a good teacher?"

"I briefly considered the idea but quickly dismissed it for the more plausible explanation."

"I happen to quite like Damian Warrick; he's a good kid. It's much more likely that he's just responding favorably to favorable treatment."

"See, that's the problem right there," Severus said. "Poor lonely Slytherin, You all see him as a singularity, so you coddle him and give him extra attention. What do you think that's going to do to his ego?"

"Just because I don't exhibit outward hatred for the boy doesn't mean that I coddle him or give him extra attention," Harry argued.

"And I don't coddle him and give him extra attention because he's a singularity," Draco clarified. "I do it because he's a Slytherin."

"So much more noble of you," Harry quipped.

"I had a point," Severus protested.

"Which was?" Draco asked.

"I'm perfectly capable of speaking to Damian myself."

"Don't be arrogant, Sev," Draco reprimanded. "Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you're the right man for the job. This situation doesn't require finesse; it needs ham-handed brash self-assurance. Potter's better at that sort of thing. Respect the man's bailiwick, Sev." Draco smiled cheekily over at Harry.

"Why don't you do it then, Draco? You're a Slytherin, and you have self-assurance in abundance. Seems to me, that makes you the perfect candidate."

"Yeah, but he likes you."

"He doesn't like you?"

"Not as much." Draco was playing it off lightly, but Harry could tell that he was resentful about not being the Slytherin's favorite teacher.

"Alright then, I'll talk to him," Harry relented.

"We'll both talk to him," Severus amended. "I don't respond well to students being attacked on school grounds." Severus really didn't sound too pleased with that idea at all.

"See," Draco said, "threatening."

"Why are you here again?" Severus asked. They'd reached Harry's door now.

"You said you wanted to talk to me," Draco reminded him.

"Oh yes," Severus drew Draco closer and bent down to whisper something in his ear. When Severus rose he had an evil smirk on his face, and Draco was even paler than usual. He started walking off down the hall. "Goodnight Draco," Severus called after him, but Draco just kept walking.

"What did you say to him?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know," Severus said. "Something threatening and intimidating," but Harry got the impression that that wasn't the whole story.

They turned toward Harry's portrait. Greggory held his defiant smirk for a moment before visibly trembling.

Harry sighed. "Can we leave it until morning? I'm kinda tired."

Severus scowled. "Fine." He glanced across the hall. "We might as well sleep in my quarters. This time tomorrow the entire staff is going to know we're sleeping together anyway."

Harry shrugged. "I don't care. Right now I just want sleep. We can talk about all of that tomorrow."

They crossed to the other side of the hall. Severus muttered, "Potter," under his breath, still a little embarrassed that he hadn't changed it to something else when he was sober.

They took the spiral staircase up to Severus' office and were about to continue on to his private quarters when they were stopped.

"What happened with Mr. Warrick?" Dumbledore's portrait asked.

"He's going to be fine," Severus answered. "You, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about."

"What's that, Severus?"

"How could you send Minerva and Slughorn to Harry's quarters, you meddling old fool."

"I had to, Severus, it was an emergency."

"You could have found a way to alert us without telling them where I was. You wanted them to find out."

"Well, it was time it happened. Secret relationships never work out: trust me."

"Has it occurred to you how much harder you've just made everything?"

"You've both been through worse."

Severus scowled. "Well, excuse me if I don't really want to compare my personal relationship to my experiences with the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore began to look angry. "You're forgetting yourself, Severus."

Severus shut his eyes tightly. "Don't make this about you."

"Stop acting like a child. It's time to be a man and start taking responsibility for your actions. I had to destroy the only man I ever loved for the greater good. So, don't try to make your life into some kind of sob story, Severus Snape. Not to me. Not after the things you've done."

Severus gave him a forlorn look. "I'm going to bed. I've had enough getting yelled at for one evening." Severus glanced to Harry after a moment, reluctant to see the expression on his lover's face. He was met with confusion rather than the repudiation he had feared, but the look was no less ominous.

They left the office and continued into Severus' private quarters.

Harry hadn't been in here since he'd laid Severus' body on the bed and left to face his destiny during the final battle. Of course, he'd been a little too preoccupied at the time to notice the interior decorating. He'd never been in these rooms under Dumbledore's tenure, but he had the feeling that Severus had redecorated since then. The furniture was all dark brown leather, the floors were hardwood, there was a small fire in the hearth, and, as they walked by, Severus flicked his wand at it, and the flickering flames shot up to a blaze. The fire illuminated a tapestry with a pleasant geometric pattern in emerald and silver on one wall and a painting of some sunflowers that Harry recognized as a Van Gough. The rest of the walls were lined with bookshelves.

They didn't pause long in this room, but continued on into the bedroom. Harry's eyes immediately locked onto the small bloodstain on the white carpet at the corner of Severus' bed. It was faded; someone had obviously tried to scrub the spot clean: either magically or non-magically. The bedding had all been replaced: purple sheets so dark they were almost black and a grey and black comforter with considerably less pillows than the last time Harry had been in here.

Severus didn't seem to notice what Harry was staring at. He walked over to the closet and slipped out of his boots and trousers. He hung his waistcoat on a hanger and rolled his shirtsleeves up before getting into bed. Harry snapped out of his stupor and stripped down to his boxers to join Severus.

"We're officially going to sleep now, right?" Harry verified.

"If you don't mind," Severus said, reaching an arm around Harry's waist to pull him closer.

"No, I'm exhausted," Harry laid his head on Severus' chest. "McGonagall kind of killed the mood anyway."

"She has the tendency to do that."

Harry laughed a little. "Goodnight, Sev."

Severus kissed the top of Harry's forehead. "Goodnight."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry woke with a start as Severus' curtains swished open and the dark room was suddenly filled with morning sunshine.

Severus sat up in bed and yawned, stretching. Harry glanced over at him and was happy to see that he wasn't the only one with bed head for a change.

By some miracle, Harry was feeling completely awake as he got out of bed and stared doubtfully at his dirty clothes from last night. "Do you mind if I borrow some clean clothes, Sev?"

Severus turned half-clothed from the closet and gave Harry a silent appraisal. "I might have something that would fit." He dug at the back of his closet and came out with a pair of black trousers and a Slytherin-green t-shirt. He tossed them to Harry.

Harry eyed the t-shirt skeptically, but pulled it on anyway. The color did look good on him, and, as long as it didn't actually say Slytherin on it anywhere, the fabric didn't seem to burn his skin, so that was fine. He had to roll up the cuffs of the trousers, but they fit otherwise, and he always thought that turn-ups looked kind of hot anyway. Overall, the clothes were a little big, but he wasn't drowning in them, not that it would be the first time if he was.

Severus gave him a peck as he walked past into the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair. Harry just ran his fingers roughly through his tangle of ebony locks, scratching his scalp.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Harry called into the bathroom. Already this was becoming almost routine.

"Eggs and hash browns," Severus answered promptly, and Harry wandered off into Severus' kitchen.

The kitchen was small but well designed, and Harry quickly found the eggs, potatoes, and necessary kitchenware. He cast a quick charm and set the potatoes to peeling and slicing themselves while he cracked a couple of eggs into a frying pan.

"How do you like your eggs?" he called back.

"Scrambled will be fine," Severus answered as he came into the kitchen, looking as well put together and immaculate as usual.

Harry pulled a whisk from a ceramic container on the counter, gave the eggs a good beating, and set them on medium while he put his attentions back to the potatoes, which were now peeled and sliced.

"I think I'm going to have to buy you an apron to keep over here," Severus said, as he took a seat on one of the stools at the island.

"Oh, yeah," Harry said, smirking. "Having me catering to your every nutritional whim isn't domestic enough for you. I have to do it in an apron?"

"I've just grown rather fond of what you've taken to wearing under the apron."

"Don't count your chickens," Harry retorted. "That was a one-time deal."

Severus gave him a doubtful look.

"Anyway, we don't have time for that this morning," Harry reprimanded. "Or did you forget that one of our students is in the Hospital Wing, and there's an invisible dragon on the loose?"

"Invisible?" Severus inquired. "When did we come to the conclusion that it's invisible? I was under the impression that there was consensus that whatever brought the dragon into the castle also brought it out."

Harry outlined his conversation with the castle the night previous, and offered his own conclusions.

"And you didn't think it worth mentioning that there might be an invisible dragon roaming the castle?" Severus was scowling.

Harry shrugged. "Maybe it was just too dark to see it. Slughorn and McGonagall made a sweep of the Slytherin dormitories and the entire dungeons; if there was anything to be found, they would have found it last night. Whoever got the dragon into the castle has it hidden somewhere or else they've already left. It's not running loose causing havoc, or we would have found it already."

Severus was still frowning, "Still… I think we need to make a full sweep of the grounds: check all the secret passages."

"Before or after we talk to the kid?"

Severus sighed. "Okay, you talk to Mr. Warrick, then, but I want a full briefing when you're through, and try not to leave out any invisible dragons this time."

They ate breakfast quickly and in silence, then they both went their separate ways. It was still before nine when Harry made it down to the infirmary, bypassing Pomfrey so that he could talk to Damian without being pestered. He probably didn't have to worry about it though, because when he got to the boy's bed he found that he was not the first visitor of the morning.

Damian must have been feeling much better, because he was talking animatedly with a first year Ravenclaw that Harry recognized as Laina Prewett, and a second year Slytherin that was either Morgan or Justin Weston. Harry always had a problem telling twins apart. Thanks to Severus, he could finally tell Fred and George apart. (Though, the twins were threatening to grow their hair out because they were getting annoyed that everyone now addressed them individually.)

"I hate to interrupt," Harry said, smiling, "but I'm going to need a few minutes alone with Damian."

The other two students obliged, quickly leaving the infirmary, and shooting Harry furtive glances.

"Are those your friends?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Damian's bed.

"Nope," Damian answered. "My arch nemeses; they just came by to wish me a speedy recovery."

"Well, you're certainly sarcastic enough to be a Slytherin."

"My mum always says, ask a stupid question- get a stupid answer."

Harry smiled. "Fair enough, of course, you never know about that arch nemesis thing; I sit next to mine every day in the great hall."

Damian took a second to puzzle this out, "Professor Malfoy or the Headmaster?"

"Malfoy, although, some people would probably say that Severus fits into that category too."

"You seem to get along with both of them really well," Damian observed. "Whenever I look up at the head table you're always talking and laughing."

Harry shrugged. "Never underestimate the value of a good rivalry."

Damian frowned. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Draco and I have been through a lot together. We understand each other," Harry tried to explain. "There's animosity of course, but when you have that kind of deep understanding of someone…well, it's hard to really condemn someone for their actions when you can see the reasoning behind them, even if you don't agree with it. Plus, I can always count on him to tell me the truth without sugar-coating- friends are seldom good for an honest opinion."

"And the Headmaster?"

"Similar situation with a lot more history behind it," Harry said, hopefully dismissing the question. "But, that's not what I'm here to talk to you about."

"I suppose you want me to go through it all again. I've already told half a dozen people."

"No, actually I need to know a few other things."

"Like what?'

"Do you remember the conversation we had back on the first day of class?"

Damian gave him a look that clearly said that this also fell under the category of stupid questions. _Damn Slytherins._

"All right, yeah, well I wanted to ask you a few things about that." Harry fumbled for the best way to explain it. "What you described, being able to sense things, magic and emotions from the people and objects around you, that's a branch of magic called magical field manipulation. It's very difficult, because, rather than using a wand to focus your magic, you have to turn that focus inward. Most wizards never manage even the most rudimentary working knowledge of this type of magic. So, what you've managed to do subconsciously is truly amazing. In a few years, with the proper training of course, you should be able to do great things and get better control over the power that you have.

"Lately, I've been experimenting with some field manipulation of my own. Severus and I were discussing the castle's magical signature a couple of days before you told me that you could sense it, so I decided to do some experimentation, and I've been able to create a sustained link with the castle."

"That's very interesting Professor, but I don't see what is has to do with me."

Harry figured it was time to get to the point. "Someone or something attacked you, Mr. Warrick. It's my job to find out who and why and make sure that it doesn't happen again. Now, unless you've managed to make some pretty powerful enemies in your brief eleven years on this planet, I have to assume that you're being targeted for some other reason. I would hate to think that it's because you're a Slytherin, but the wizarding world has just suffered a crushing victory against one of your founder's descendents, and I would be naïve to think that there aren't plenty of people out there harboring a grudge against your house. But, that would be too simple, the whole situation is complicated by this pesky little gift of yours, and, unfortunately, there are also plenty of people out there who are more than happy to exploit anyone with gifts outside the norm. Trust me, I speak from personal experience."

Harry couldn't help but feel like he was yelling at the boy, but Damian was regarding Harry stoically. He would have made a decent Gryffindor, Harry thought with approval. It was strange how two houses so at odds with one another could also be so closely linked sometimes. "What I need to know from you, Mr. Warrick, is just how deep this ability of yours runs and who else knows about it. Things like this tend not to stay hidden for long."

Damian gave him a gauging look. "And how do I know that you don't intend to exploit my gifts?"

Well, Damian certainly had his own best interests at heart. Maybe he did belong in Slytherin after all. "I can give you my word. I've been used by one person or another my entire life, to achieve whatever ends they deemed best suited for me. I wouldn't wish that on anyone that on anyone, not even Malfoy." Once he said it, he realized what a ridiculous sentiment that was, as Draco had been used almost as much as Harry had.

"Okay. I'll tell you what you want to know," Damian said. He gave Harry another one of those gauging looks. "It started when I was six. I guess that's when most children first start to manifest their magical power. I woke up one night with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was so persistent that I couldn't get back to sleep. From there it only escalated. I started seeing images, fierce emotions, and other strange feelings. It was like a hundred different people were using my body to think and feel all at once. In retrospect, I think it was only five. By morning, anyway, it was unbearable. I was screaming as loud as I could just to drown it all out. My parents didn't know what was going on. They sedated me and brought me to St. Mungo's. Of course, once they got me there, it was even worse. Even at six in the morning, the place was full of people. What had been a deafening roar in my head became an unbearable white noise that washed out every other command my body could give. I was no longer capable of individual thought. I wasn't able to respond to any of the medi-wizards' questions, because my brain was so full of noise that I couldn't hear what they were asking me."

"Did they figure out what was wrong?" Harry asked.

"They ran a bunch of tests, but they couldn't find anything wrong with me, so they came to the conclusion that I was just having some kind of mental breakdown. I guess that I was, in a way." Damian rubbed his forehead. "They put me in the psych ward."

Harry's eyes narrowed in emphatic sorrow. He'd been to the psych ward at St. Mungo's more than once, and it wasn't an experience he'd want to repeat any time soon. The patients in the open ward, Lockheart and The Longbottoms, weren't so bad. The cruciatus sometimes had that affect on people. To get away from the pain they retreated from reality. They were pleasant enough, a bit like large children, but they were a far cry from their old selves, and they were prone to violent outbursts. You could see the fear and pain in their eyes. Of course, not everyone went so quietly insane. The isolation wing wasn't much better than Azkaban, for the cries and the laments of its wards. It was hardly the sort of environment for a six-year-old who was so permeable to other's thoughts and feelings.

"It's a wonder you didn't go mad yourself."

"I don't like to think about how close that came to happening."

"What did happen?"

"Mungo's keeps a number of magically reinforced six inch thick steel cells for new werewolves and the particularly violent patients. At some point I must have become violent or something, because, the next thing I know, I find myself in this metal box, and my mind and body are once more my own." Damian reached up to brush his hair out of his face. "I could talk to the medi-wizard then; after a couple weeks of sharing my mind with a few dozen crazy people, one sane one didn't seem so bad. They still didn't know what was wrong with me of course, but the medi-wizard suggested that it would be best to keep me as far away from other people as possible. They sent me to live with my uncle Tiberius up in the mountains. My uncle's a very simple man, and I found his thoughts and feelings to be only minimally invasive. After a few years I learned how to control it: block other people out."

"And you went home to live with your parents?"

"Yes, just for a few weeks at a time at first, but now I can control it well enough for longer visits."

"Visits? So, you still live with your uncle then?"

"Mostly," Damian admitted. "It's just easier than keeping my guard up all of the time, and I still can't do it when I'm sleeping, so sometimes it's hard to sleep when I'm there."

"That's why you wanted to be in Slytherin, isn't it?" Harry asked. This had occurred to him already, but the idea that Damian's mind would be open to everyone around him while he slept seemed to cement the logic of it. "You wanted the dorm to yourself."

Damian shrugged. "It worked out okay."

Harry fell silent for a while. Thinking over what Damian had told him. The odd thing was that having this conversation with Damian almost felt natural. He thought that having a position of authority over students, a lot of them not much younger than himself, would be awkward, but he had fallen into the role quite easily. Yet, as he thought the situation over, trying to see it from all the angles, trying- in short- to see things the way Dumbledore would, he began to feel a little out of his depth.

"Listen," Harry said finally. "I want to talk about this some more, later this week probably. Would you mind coming by my office after they discharge you?"

"I guess," Damian said. "When would be a good time?"

"It doesn't really matter. If I'm not in class or at meals, I'm usually in my office."

Damian nodded.

"Okay, well, feel better," Harry pulled a box of chocolate frogs from his robes and set it on the bedside table. "Those are from Professor Malfoy and the Headmaster too, but don't eat them until Madam Pomfrey says it's okay."

Damian smiled: a very Slytherin smile that said quite clearly that he intended to do no such thing.

Harry returned the smile and left the infirmary. He had some new information to think over, but he still didn't have any answers.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus stepped into Harry's rooms late that afternoon, tired and muddy.

"What the hell happened to you?" Harry asked, looking up from the book he was reading on the sofa.

"I've been tramping through The Forbidden Forest for half the day looking for an invisible dragon." Severus collapsed onto the sofa with an undignified grunt. He hadn't mustered up the energy to take off his boots, and he left muddy footprints in a trail from the door.

Harry set his book down and flicked his wand at the muddy footprints to clean them away. He turned to give Severus his full attention and gave him a slight half-smile.

Severus buried his face in his hands and moaned, "Merlin, I just realized how daft that sounds."

Harry chuckled and leaned into Severus' shoulder.

"How did it go with Damian?"

"Okay, I think," Harry frowned, "you might be right about there being something rotten in Denmark, but I don't think that he's done anything to warrant any enemies: at least not homicidal ones."

Severus scowled.

Harry gave him a sympathetic look. "No luck with the dragon then?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Would I be sitting here getting mud all over your sofa if I had found an invisible dragon roaming about The Black Forrest?"

"Well," Harry said, thinking about it. "Yeah, but you'd probably be happier about it."

Severus managed a weak smile, letting his head slump back against the back of the sofa. "Well, I'm open to suggestions at this point, even from you."

Harry let the jibe slide. "I could ask the castle, I guess. But, so far, I mostly just get pictures, and even if it's still is on school grounds, I wouldn't be able to see the dragon."

"No," Severus agreed, sitting up straighter, "but you might recognize the surrounding area and be able to tell me where it is."

"Yeah, okay," Harry knew the castle like the back of his hand- some lessons in morality were harder won than others- and, anyway, he could probably pinpoint any specific area of the castle based on the portraits and tapestries on the wall.

Feeling self-conscious, Harry closed his eyes and opened up the link between the castle and himself. Harry offered up all his warm feelings for his home and received a warm surge of energy in return.

Questioning.

"The dragon that attacked Damian, can you show me what happened to it?"

Darkness.

Harry frowned, his eyes were still shut tight, and Severus was watching him intently.

"Do you at least know where it came from?" Harry asked.

He got an image almost immediately. Two men arguing in a familiar looking room that Harry couldn't place, regardless of his knowledge of the castle. It was very Spartan, there was a fire crackling in the grate, but the walls were unadorned, and the scant furniture was shabby and careworn. The two men were engaged in a heated argument, and one of them had the other pushed against the wall.

Harry frowned. He could see the men's lips moving in a fierce conversation, but, as before, he couldn't hear anything. "Don't suppose I could get some sound?"

The image blacked out, and Harry was about to take that as a no, when the vision returned a little clearer and with full sound.

"Salazar," the man pressed against the wall hissed between gritted teeth. "Get the hell away from me!"

Harry suddenly recognized the room. The massive oak desk should have been a dead giveaway; they were in the Headmaster's office. And, if that was Salazar Slytherin, then the man being pressed against the wall must be…

"Godric, you can't honestly be mad at me," Slytherin sneered.

"You're crushing me," Gryffindor protested, placing a hand on each of Slytherin's shoulders and giving him a good shove.

Slytherin stumbled back a couple steps, but stepped forward again into the shorter man's space and grabbed his wrist, roughly pressing it against the stone wall above. "You've been gone for three months," he growled angrily.

Gryffindor gave up fighting back, and he allowed himself to be pressed into the wall, looking up at Slytherin imploringly. "I needed some time away from you."

"You could have told me that you were leaving," Slytherin hissed, his long scraggly black hair fell wildly around his face, and his expression was a mixture of anger and sadness. "You didn't even leave me a note."

"I wasn't even sure if I was going to be coming back."

"Not coming back?" Slytherin sputtered, finally backing away from Gryffindor and letting him up. He turned away, not letting the other man see his face. "How could you…" He turned quickly back to Gryffindor. "It's our school… You wouldn't…"

Gryffindor gave him a wary look. "No, Salazar, obviously I wouldn't, because I'm here now." Gryffindor stepped forward and put a hand on Slytherin's forearm.

Slytherin met his eyes, his face firm. "So, what now? Do you forgive me?"

"No, of course not." Gryffindor dropped his hand, crossing the room to set his satchel gently on the desk. "But, I'm back."

Slytherin scowled. He ran a hand through his lank hair, pushing it back off his face. "Are you back for good then?"

Gryffindor scratched the back of his neck, biting his lower lip. He paused for a moment and then nodded solemnly.

Slytherin let out a deep sigh and flashed him a very winning smile.

"I'm still not forgiving you," Gryffindor reminded him.

Slytherin nodded, but he was still smiling. He crossed the room in a prowl and wrapped his arms around Gryffindor's waist, pressing his cheek to Gryffindor's back and inhaling in a deep shuddering breath. "I missed you," Slytherin whispered.

Gryffindor stiffened.

"I didn't want things to turn out like this," Slytherin continued. "I didn't mean to drive you away."

Gryffindor shut his eyes tight, schooling his emotions. "I missed you too, but I can't forgive you, so don't bother apologizing."

Slytherin shook his head against Gryffindor's back. "I'm not going to apologize. I'm not sorry."

This time it was Slytherin's turn to be thrust against the wall. Gryffindor held him by the throat, his wand pressed tight under the taller man's jaw.

"Say you're sorry," Gryffindor spat in his face.

"I'm not sorry," Slytherin hissed back.

For a second it looked like Gryffindor really was going to curse him, but then he lowered his wand shakily, tears running down his eyes. "Why did you do it?" he asked in a harsh whisper, still maintaining his hold on Slytherin's throat

Slytherin just sneered back at him, chin thrust out arrogantly, and didn't look remotely threatened. "Because I love you," he rasped out, though it was hard to speak with Gryffindor crushing his windpipe.

Gryffindor wavered for a second, but released his grip on the other man's throat, letting his hand drop back to his side.

"Where have you been anyway?" Slytherin asked hoarsely.

"Peru," Gryffindor went back to his desk and unbelted his satchel. "I've been keeping to the mountains mostly." He pulled a couple of scrolls from the bag. "The wizards up there are a little too concerned with the future to live in the present, but the experience was interesting." He shot Slytherin a furtive glance. "I learned a lot."

"Meanwhile, I've been stuck here with the females, trying to hold the school together without you." Slytherin grumbled.

"I thought you tried to impress the importance of being self-sufficient on your chosen students."

Slytherin scowled again. "And, I thought that you prided courage above all else, yet, instead of confronting me like a man, you ran away to Peru for three months to hang around a bunch of lunatic mystics."

Gryffindor abruptly stopped unpacking and spun on the spot to face Slytherin again. "I did not run away. I needed time to think so that I could look at you without killing you."

"Yeah, well I don't need you," Slytherin turned away. "I just don't like having to pull the extra weight around here."

Gryffindor put an arm on Slytherin's shoulder and turned him back. "I'm sorry I left, but I didn't have a choice. I just couldn't stand to be here anymore; not after what you did."

"I don't regret it," Slytherin maintained.

"It was selfish, immoral, and wrong."

"So," Slytherin shrugged and pulled away. "What do you expect? You knew who I was when you got in bed with me."

Gryffindor narrowed his eyes. "Do you mean that literally or figuratively?"

Slytherin smirked. "Both, of course."

Gryffindor sighed. "I'm not sure I want to start this with you again."

"You do," Slytherin said, displaying his famed self-assurance. He stepped forward and, placing a hand on Gryffindor's jaw, met the man's lips with his own.

Gryffindor's façade of anger and self-control fell away the moment Slytherin kissed him. He wrapped his arms around Slytherin and let out a sob. He broke the kiss but held the other man close in a tight needy embrace, nuzzling into his neck, and crying. "I missed you too," Gryffindor whispered. "But I don't forgive you."

"I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not even asking for understanding." Slytherin grabbed Gryffindor's ponytail and yanked his head back, reclaiming Gryffindor's lips. "I just want you to remember that you're mine, and I would do anything to protect you."

Gryffindor pushed him back again. "I'm yours?" he growled angrily.

"Exactly," Slytherin smirked and bent in for another kiss, but Gryffindor pushed him back.

"I'm yours?" Louder this time: angrier.

Slytherin rolled his eyes. "We've been through this part already. I don't want to argue."

"Neither do I," Gryffindor agreed. "Look, I brought you something." He left Slytherin and went back to his satchel and carefully pulled out a pearl colored egg about twice the size of an ostrich egg. It was wrapped carefully in a towel, which Gryffindor set aside before gingerly handing the egg to Slytherin.

"It's a Peruvian Snow Dragon," Gryffindor said, answering Slytherin's questioning glance. "I traded one of those lunatic mystics a bottle of elf-made wine and an old traveling cloak for it."

"Why would you do that? I thought that you were mad at me." Slytherin turned the egg gently over in his hands.

"I know of your penchant for reptiles. I thought you would like it."

"So, you're not really mad at me then, are you?" He set the egg down carefully within the circle of the towel on Gryffindor's desk. "You wouldn't be buying me gifts if you were really that mad at me."

Gryffindor smiled, but there wasn't any joy in it. "What you did was awful, and I'll never forgive you, but I missed you, and I do want you back."

The image went black then, and Harry thanked the castle and opened his eyes. Severus was staring at him intently.

"You look like a lunatic when you do that," he said as Harry's eyes refocused.

"I've been informed." Harry rubbed at the corner of his mouth; he'd been beginning to drool. "Did you know that Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin were lovers?"

"Of course, everyone knows that," Severus dabbed up what Harry missed with the edge of his sleeve.

"I didn't know that," Harry argued.

"It's not such a huge secret. It's in Hog-"

Harry cut him off quickly with a kiss.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "What was that for?"

"Don't say it."

Severus smirked. "Don't say what? _Hogwarts: a History?_"

Harry scowled. "Anyway, they were arguing."

"Gryffindor and Slytherin? That's not surprising; I imagine they had a lot to argue about. What was it this time?"

Harry frowned. "I'm not exactly sure. Gryffindor had been away to Peru for three months, but hadn't told Slytherin that he was leaving. I think they had a fight before he left, because he was pretty pissed at Slytherin. I don't know what the fight was about, but whatever it was, Slytherin wouldn't apologize."

"Was it about children?"

"Children? No, I don't think so. Slytherin seemed pretty angry that Gryffindor left him to manage the students, but I don't think that's what the argument was about."

Severus shook his head. "Slytherin and Gryffindor were together off and on for over twenty years. It was common practice back then for a wizard to take a male lover as a young man, but, by the time he was thirty, he was expected to take a wife and carry on the family line. Gryffindor and Slytherin defied convention and stayed together into their early fifties. But, in the end, Slytherin decided that his desire for an heir outweighed his love for Gryffindor, and he finally married. After that, Gryffindor took a wife as well, but the two never really saw eye to eye from then on. It's what spawned the rivalry between the houses."

"Wow, that's really sad."

"Not everyone's life can be sunshine and daisies, Potter."

"I know that just as well as you do, Snape," Harry snapped back. "But aren't there spells and potions that allow for male pregnancies."

"Now there are, but back then only the most preliminary research had been done."

"Oh, well I don't think that's what they were arguing about anyway. This would have been before that. I don't think they were older than their mid-thirties." Harry was intrigued though, he'd bought _Hogwarts: a History_ last week, now he figured he'd have to actually make time to read the damn thing; it could be useful.

"Where does the dragon come in?"

"Gryffindor gave Slytherin an egg. The castle seemed to think that's where the dragon came from. He said that it was a Peruvian Snow Dragon."

"But, that dragon would be hundreds of years old; there's no way it would fit in the Slytherin common room, let alone one of the dormitories."

"The castle seemed pretty sure; maybe it's one of that dragon's decedents. Or, … do dragon's have ghosts?"

"Even if they did, ghosts don't have physical bodies; the most it would be able to do is make Damian a little cold." Severus paused to consider Harry's other option. "Are you actually suggesting that there have been dragon's breeding on school grounds for centuries without anyone knowing about it?"

"Maybe in the Forbidden Forest?"

"No, the centaurs would know about it, and, in case you've forgotten, I've just spent the better part of the afternoon tromping through the Forbidden Forest looking for a dragon; if there was one there to be found, I would have found it."

"An invisible dragon?"

Severus scowled.

"Okay then, how about the Room of Requirement?"

"Slytherin was just walking by one day going 'gee, what am I going to do with this dragon?' and the Room of Requirement just produced some kind of dragon sanctuary?"

"Once you've eliminated the impossible," Harry began to quote.

"Alright, provided it is possible that a hoard of dragons have been breeding in the Room of Requirement for hundreds of years- which, I am not saying it is, mind you- how would they have gotten out? Someone would have to be walking by thinking specifically about getting or hiding a dragon."

"Classic bullocksed Slytherin scheming."

"Hagrid, more likely," Severus put in, actually considering the idea.

"No," Harry shook his head. "He learned his lesson the first time. Besides, I think he actually has his hands full with Grawp."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "The first time? So that business with Draco and Hagrid and the dragon was true?"

"Yeah, but don't let on that you know anything about it, or Hagrid will try to show you his scrapbooks."

"The scary thing is, I only know about the stuff you got caught for; I don't even want to think about all the things that you actually managed to get away with."

"Well, don't worry; you'll never find out. I cover my tracks well."

Severus snorted. "Yeah, tell that to my store of boomslang skin."

"I can honestly say that I have never stolen boomslang skin in my entire life."

Severus raised an eyebrow in clear disbelief.

"I swear on my honor as a Gryffindor," Harry said, giving him a scout salute.

Severus snorted again.

"So, are we going to go check out the Room of Requirement then?"

Severus looked down at his robes and his lips curled into a snarl or disgust. "I need a shower first." He got up and walked towards Harry's bathroom, but paused at the entrance to the hall. "Well?" he asked condescendingly. "Are you coming?"

Harry looked up at him: charmingly innocent. "I just took a shower half an hour ago. My hair's still wet." He ran his hand through it to illustrate, and it was still damp enough to stand straight up on end.

Severus flicked his wand at Harry's head and his hair instantly dried and fell flat- well, as flat as it ever got. Severus' mouth twitched in further consideration, and then he wrung out the corner of his robe and levitated the recently produced filth over to Harry, flicking his wand again so that it splattered against his face.

"I did not ask you when you had last bathed," Severus said, turning the corner into the hallway.

Harry, smiling and wiping at the mud on his face- only serving to smear it further, stood and followed.

"You're a dirty old man, you know that?" Harry said as he entered the bathroom just in time to see Severus step in under the shower head.

He smirked licentiously.

"No, I mean literally. You smell like swamp. If you're expecting me to get in there with you, you'd better rinse off for a while first."

"Real seductive, Potter," Severus grumbled, turning to hold his face under the stream of water.

Harry undressed and stepped in behind him. "I didn't realize I had to try that hard," Harry said, reaching around to stroke down Severus' chest over his abdomen and curled his fingers in the sparse hair at the base of Severus' cock.

Severus let out a hiss.

"Really though," Harry said, wrinkling his nose and removing his hand just as it was starting to do something interesting. "You do need a good scrubbing." Harry covered a sponge with cranberry body wash and started soaping Severus' back.

Now Severus wrinkled his nose. "What is that?"

"Soap."

"That is _not_ soap," Severus protested. "Soap doesn't smell, or, if it does, it smells like a fresh Irish spring, not…" Severus sniffed again, "cranberries and apple blossoms. I refuse to smell like a girl, Potter."

Harry removed the sponge from Severus' skin. "If you'd rather smell like a swamp…"

Severus sighed in resignation. "Give me the damn sponge."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry and Severus were pacing back and forth in front of the Room of Requirement, arguing in heated whispers. Occasionally, a student would walk by and shoot them a curious look. Severus usually responded with a threatening glare, which sent the student scurrying.

"This is ridiculous," Severus growled.

"If you would get your mind out of the gutter," Harry shot back, "we wouldn't be having this problem." Harry stopped, yanked open the newly formed door, peeked his head inside, and slammed it shut. The door disappeared, and they started pacing again.

"You're the one with the adolescent hormones, Potter. Maybe you should try to concentrate."

Harry stopped, pulled the new door open, looked inside, and stepped out of the way with a vindicated smile on his face. He gestured into the room. "I'm pretty sure that my sexual fantasies don't come in Slytherin-green."

Severus looked inside and had the decency to look embarrassed. Every soft padded surface in the room was emerald green. "I was thinking about your eyes, actually," he muttered, slamming the door shut.

The first time had been an accident, someone's mind had wandered away from dragons, and they had opened the door to the Room of Requirement to find it well stocked for any number of sexual indecencies. A short game of one-upmanship had followed, as they took turns opening the door to find increasingly erotic or exotic rooms full of all sorts of interesting and stimulating things.

This had been fun until about five minutes ago when Harry had opened the door to find a bare stone room that contained only a rubber duck.

"A duck?" Harry asked, turning to Severus with a mixture of confusion and trepidation.

Severus had nodded sagely and said, "You should know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon."

After that, Harry had been keen to get back to business, but, unfortunately, that seemed easier said than done. They couldn't seem to both get their minds on anything other than sex for long enough to reset the room.

Severus opened the next door. "I thought that your fantasies didn't come in Slytherin-green," Severus said, looking smug.

Harry peeked in and grimaced. Inside was a replica of his own bed draped in green silk and equipped with big silver shackles lined in green velvet. There was even a big bottle of his preferred strawberry lubricant. "I was just thinking about it, and I decided that maybe they should." Harry closed the door.

"I kind of liked that one," Severus protested, "despite the fact that your fantasies never made it past grade school."

"Maybe this would work better if we tried it individually," Harry suggested, ignoring him.

Severus shook his head. "It's no use. It's like saying 'don't think about dung-beetles."

"What?"

"The first thing that you think of when someone tells you not to think of dung-beetles is, of course, dung-beetles."

"Ah, I see," Harry nodded. "Maybe we should ask Hagrid, then. If there's anyone who could concentrate on dragons, it's him."

"He's still out in the Forbidden Forest, but it can wait until he gets back. It's not like there's actually going to be any dragons in there: invisible or otherwise. I just hope it doesn't give him any ideas. We could ask Draco instead."

"Then we'd have to explain why we can't do it ourselves," Harry pointed it out. "I think I'd rather brave the dragons."

Severus nodded.

"In that case, we have some time to kill." Harry inclined his head toward the door.

"We just went three rounds in the shower. You can't honestly still be horny."

"Adolescent hormones, remember?" Harry asked with a smirk. "Although, incidentally, I am twenty, so I don't know how much longer you can blame it on that. Besides, you were the one promising to wear me out last night."

"And, I must have succeeded. As you recall, you cut our evening short because you were, and I quote, exhausted."

"I was exhausted because one of our students was attacked by an invisible dragon, and I was still dealing with the embarrassment of being walked in on by McGonagall. There were extenuating circumstances."

"And, I've spent all afternoon tromping through the forest looking for said invisible dragon."

"I don't believe you."

"Are you calling me a liar, Potter?"

Harry remained obstinate. "You don't tromp."

Severus' scowl broke and he let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"You sweep elegantly from place to place. If you're in a particularly foul mood, you look a bit like an overgrown bat, but you couldn't tromp even if you wanted to."

Severus laughed in earnest now. "What was it that we were arguing about again?"

"Sex," Harry reminded him, smiling slightly because he knew he'd won. "You were complaining that a combination of general physical exertion and trying to keep up with my adolescent hormones has left you too exhausted to satisfy my amply provided for fantasy, just behind this door." Harry gestured to it.

"What a ridiculous thing to argue about," Severus stepped forward and held the door open for Harry. "Well, come on then, Potter. I guess I'll have to chain you to the bed and prove whatever needs proving."

"Not this time, Sev," Harry shook his head, even as he was walking through the threshold. "Those are for you."

"And leave myself at your mercy? It's never going to happen, Potter." Severus followed him into the room, and the door shut behind them with a click.

"Ah," Harry said, spinning to capture Severus' lips in a kiss. "That's where you're wrong. You already are."

"You're deluded, Potter," Severus retorted, kissing him back. "I'm in complete control." He pushed Harry up against the wall and held his wrists above his head.

"That's what you think."

Severus relinquished Harry's hands long enough to slide his robes down over his shoulders and remove the tight t-shirt Harry was wearing underneath. Then he pushed Harry roughly back against the wall again. "That's what I know." He kicked Harry's legs apart and slid a thigh in between, applying just the right amount of pressure.

Harry moaned. "I have you wrapped around my finger," Harry managed to get out before he let out another moan.

"Is that so?" Severus was smirking for real now, not just the somewhat cynical curl of his lips but the kind of smirk that overflowed at the edges and belied a true smile. "Because it seems to me that I have you pressed up against the wall."

"It just looks like you have me pressed up against the wall." Harry wasn't fighting against him or responding to Severus' ministrations. He just leaned casually up against the wall smiling.

Severus curled a hand around Harry's waist and held him there. "It looks like that because I do have you pressed up against the wall."

"Yes, but you could just as easily have me pressed against the bed."

"The bed?" Severus glanced over his shoulder at it. "Yes, I suppose I could."

Harry regarded him mildly.

Severus growled and, grabbing Harry by the wrist, pulled him over to the bed. He pushed Harry down onto it roughly as he pulled off his own robes and climbed in on top of him.

"There," he said finally, "now I have you pinned to the bed."

"Yes," Harry replied, still maintaining his cool, "I suppose you do."

The act wasn't fooling him any, Severus could feel Harry's erection pressing against his own. "I can do anything that I want to you."

"I suppose you can," Harry answered. He wiggled a little under Severus' weight. "If I let you, I mean."

Severus sneered. He lifted Harry's right wrist up and bolted it into one of the shackles at the head of the bed. "I don't think that you need to let me."

Harry tilted his head back slowly to look at his shackled wrist and then back to Severus. "I'm pretty sure I do."

Severus frowned and shackled Harry's other wrist too. "I think you're mistaken."

Harry glanced up again and shook his wrists, making the silver chains jangle. Harry looked back and smiled, "Nope."

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Severus asked, forehead wrinkled in confusion. "I have you completely at my mercy."

Harry snorted derisively. He looked back up at the shackles again, and this time he gave them a little push of magic and they clicked open, then, before Severus could properly register what was happening, Harry used his superior strength to turn the tables on Severus. He wrapped his legs around Severus' waist and used his thigh muscles, sculpted from years of clamping onto a broomstick, and an acrobatic twist of his back to flip Severus onto his back, then, before Severus could do anything, there were twin clicks and the shackles closed around his wrists.

"Wha-?" Severus looked up at Harry in confusion.

"I told you the cuffs weren't meant for me," Harry said, and, before Severus could protest, he was sliding down the man's trousers and pressing his hot mouth to the straining erection beneath.

Severus moaned and the shackles rattled.

Harry trailed his hands down Severus' bare chest and brought them down to wrap around Severus' thighs as he continued to work at his erection. Harry trailed his tongue up along the underside before taking the tip into his mouth once more and sucking gently.

Severus bucked his hips. He wanted to tell Harry just what he thought of this new arrangement, and just what kind of retribution Harry could expect once he was released. He longed to lash into Harry with his tongue, either literally or metaphorically-at this point he didn't care, but he was beyond speech at the moment. The blinding pleasure that Harry was giving him drowned out all thought.

Harry reached one hand up to Severus' face, brushing his fingertips across Severus' jaw line before slipping two fingers into his mouth. He moved them back and forth rubbing across Severus' tongue and brushing them across his teeth. Severus bit down gently upon the intrusion, and Harry withdrew them slowly, Severus' teeth scraping across his knuckles.

Harry abandoned Severus' erection and let it slap against his belly, and moved forward to straddle his lover's hips. He placed his wet fingers into his own mouth then, meeting Severus' eyes, before leaning forward to nuzzle the man's neck. He kissed up Severus' neck and nibbled gently at his earlobe.

Severus hissed in pleasure, breathing deep, and there was another rattle of chains.

Harry kissed Severus on the mouth while he fumbled with the bottle on the nightstand, and then he applied generous amounts of lubrication to both Severus and himself. Harry relinquished Severus' lips and adjusted to guide himself slowly onto Severus. They both moaned, pausing to savor that feeling of filling and being filled. Then, Harry began moving on him, coming down hard each time to brush against his prostate.

Despite the velvet lining, the silver cuffs bit into the soft flesh of Severus' wrists, offsetting the pleasure he was feeling. He bit down on his lower lip to offset it further, and he had to struggle not to thrust his hips hard enough to unseat Harry. The compromise seemed to be a kind of sideways twitch into the mattress as he fought his coming orgasm.

Harry began stroking his own erection in time with his thrusts, and he came over Severus' chest a moment later. He clamped around Severus as he came, bringing Severus over the edge with him, and they collapsed into each other.

Harry rolled over onto his side and curled into Severus' chest.

"Hmm," Severus leaned down to kiss Harry on the forehead. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Harry asked sleepily.

Severus jingled his wrists.

"Oh yeah," Harry smiled and glanced up at the shackles. He gave them a small magical push and the latches released.

Severus rubbed his wrists to return feeling to his hands and then wrapped his arms around Harry. "I don't know where all that raw magical talent comes from, but you amaze me sometimes."

Harry smiled again and cuddled back into Severus' chest. "Thanks, I think you're pretty amazing too."

Severus rubbed soothing circles at the small of Harry's back and they both fell asleep.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It was late Sunday evening when Harry and Severus emerged from the Room of Requirement. The halls were empty and the wall torches were dimmed. So, luckily, their disheveled state went unobserved.

"Are we still going to try the dragon thing?" Harry asked sleepily, leaning into Severus.

"Well, I'm too tired to think about sex, but I doubt the same can be said of you."

"Meh," Harry shrugged. "I'm not too tired to think about sex, but I'm tired enough to concentrate on something else for a while."

"Well, let's try it then," Severus said, and together they paced back and forth down the hall.

When the door formed, Severus opened it. His eyebrows rose in surprise and he blinked a couple of times. "Well, look at that."

Harry stepped forward next to him and looked inside. "That looks like a dragon sanctuary to me, Sev," he said.

The ceiling seemed to have disappeared, and the doorway opened into a wide open plain with mountains, dotted with caves, on one side and the sound of the ocean and the smell of sea salt in the air.

"I don't see any dragons," Severus said, peering around, "but they could be anywhere. It would take days to search this place."

Harry yawned. "Well, I'm not about to start now, but I'm sure there's a spell to locate dragons. I'll write to Charlie Weasley and ask. I have classes to teach tomorrow, and I haven't eaten since breakfast. Come on, let's go."

Severus nodded, and slipped an arm around Harry's waist as they left together. "I want mashed potatoes again."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: Sorry that took so long to get up. I was commissioned to make some armor over the summer, and I haven't had a lot of free time. Hopefully this will tide you over for a while. I have a whole bunch of papers due over the next few weeks, but I'll try to keep working on the next chapter whenever I get the chance. I promise I'll finish this eventually.

Anyway, reviews are always very helpful…. Well, that's not always true, some are more complementary or abusive than constructive, but all are welcome.

Thanks again.


	13. If I Only Had the Words

Author's Note: If anyone is curious about the movie reference contest, the answer was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Multicolouredeyes was the first to answer correctly, and her prize has also been posted today. The title is You Could Have it so Much Better, and the pairing is Harry Potter/ Marcus Flint if anyone is interested in reading it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by Billy Joel.

Give Me Life

Chapter Thirteen

If I Only had the Words

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was reading _Hogwarts, A History._

At first he had started just skimming the cursed book, looking for any information relevant to what he was researching or concerning the founders, but by the time he was a dozen pages in, the book had captured his attention, and he was reading it properly. Which was fine, really, he didn't have a problem with that. He was very secure in his loathing.

_As long as Hermione didn't find out._

Which reminded him of Ron and Hermione's pending nuptials. That still hadn't quite sunk in. It was weird. It had been the same way when they had started dating. Their relationship had seemed like a natural progression of things, and he had accepted it without question, but things had never really been the same after that. Their entire group dynamic had been thrown off. Now there was Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but there was also Ron & Hermione, and Harry. It was awful not knowing when you were being a third wheel. Of course, Harry supposed, now they could be Ron & Hermione, and Harry & Severus. Harry could just picture it: the four of them sitting at a candlelit dinner, Severus scowling. That's if they made it that far without cursing each other into the infirmary.

Harry snorted.

"What's so funny?" Severus leaned over to see what Harry was reading.

Harry wasn't quite sure himself. His eyes had continued to scan the page, but the words had long since lost all meaning.

Harry closed the book and set it aside, turning his attention back to his breakfast. They were in The Great Hall eating this morning, which meant that Harry didn't have to cook, but he would have gladly taken on the chore if it meant a little privacy. Since the grand reveal of their involvement Saturday night, Harry got the distinct feeling that everyone was staring at him- which was probably because they were.

"I thought you were never going to read that," Severus said, gesturing to the book.

"I think the Gryffindor-Slytherin thing is the key to this whole business with the invisible dragon. If it means finding out what's going on, I guess I can force my way through the damn thing."

"Learn anything yet?"

"Just a bunch of useless trivia about staircases and old headmasters. There was some information about the founders in the introduction, but it was all stuff that I already knew anyway."

Severus picked the book up off the table and turned it over in his hands, flipping through toward the end very deliberately. "It's here," he placed the book back in front of Harry, and tapped the page about half way down. "Unless, of course, you were enjoying it," Severus smirked, "then, perhaps you would like to continue reading from where you were."

Harry glared at him and adjusted the angle on the book so that he could read better. It did indeed start discussing the relationship between Hogwarts' two founding fathers where Severus had indicated.

The background noise from the students suddenly dropped substantially in volume, and Harry looked up reflexively. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor all continued to chatter away normally, but the Slytherins had all fallen silent.

A group of seventh years had just entered The Great Hall, and every other Slytherin had turned in their seats to watch them. The two in front bore between them a large rune-covered wooden box. The seventh years walked slowly past their house table, and they all wore black armbands over the sleeves of their robes. Harry hadn't noticed before, but most of the other Slytherins wore them too. He watched as the procession of seventh years continued on past the other tables and out the front door.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked, looking from Severus to Draco for an answer. Both men seemed solemn and pensive.

"The Slytherin mascot died over the weekend," Severus finally answered. "They're going to have a burial service today out by the lake."

Harry looked up and saw that most of the Slytherins were filing out in twos and threes to follow the funeral procession out to the lake.

"Are you guys going?" Harry asked, looking again from Severus to Draco.

Draco was quickly trying to finish his breakfast, and his mouth was full, but he nodded in response to Harry's question.

Severus sighed. "I should make an appearance also." He shook his head. "Though, I don't much see the point in having a funeral for a snake."

"Atropos?" Draco asked, clearly shocked at Severus' apparent apathy. "He's been part of Slytherin for almost a hundred years. Show a little respect."

"He was still only a snake. It's all very sad, but the armbands are a bit much."

Draco was still reprimanding him on his lack of Slytherin pride and common human decency- Harry figured that Sev would consider the second part a compliment- as they walked away toward the entrance.

This left space on either side of him, and Harry felt very exposed, even though people were starting to get up and leave as they finished their breakfasts. He was just about to leave himself and head for his office when Minerva slid into Severus' vacated chair.

"Morning," Harry said, a little awkwardly.

"Do you love him?" she asked, without preamble.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a simple question, Potter," Minerva snapped. "Do you love him or not."

"Of course I love him," Harry said quietly. "Do you think I would risk everything if I didn't?"

Minerva let out a sigh. "I'm glad to hear that you realize the risks, Potter."

"I'm not stupid."

"No, I suppose you're not. Severus would hardly be interested were that the case."

Harry gathered his things. "I'm no coward either. I would think that everyone would know that by now. I'm not going to give up what happiness I have, because I'm afraid of what the consequences will be."

Minerva grabbed him by the arm to stop him from leaving. "Don't hurt him, Harry. He's been hurt so much already."

"I'd sooner hurt myself, Minerva. He deserves to be happy. If I can make him happy, then that's the least I can do. Besides, I think Severus told you to stay out of it." He pulled his arm away and headed away toward his office.

He spent the next hour in his office, sorting papers, entering grades, and going over the week's lesson plan. He was just about to head down to his classroom when there was a knock, and Horace Slughorn entered his office, a little out of breath from the stairs.

"Professor Potter, can I have a moment of your time?"

Harry gestured for him to sit down. Slughorn was one of the few staff members who called him Professor Potter, most of the other teachers called him Potter or Harry. "What did you need Professor Slughorn?"

"I've just come from the funeral," he said.

Harry glanced at his watch, "Long funeral for a snake."

"He was a much beloved part of Slytherin for many years. There were quite a few Slytherin alumni who wished to speak."

Harry noticed for the first time that Slughorn wasn't his usual jovial self. The man looked sad. "What can I do?" Harry asked, already with an idea of where this was going.

"Slytherin needs a new mascot. Normally, the job of replacing dear Atropos would fall to me, but whenever this was necessary in the past the head of Slytherin was always a parselmouth. Unfortunately, I've never possessed that particular talent, and it seems to be rarer than ever. With the end of Slytherin's line, you might very well be the last parselmouth alive."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "You want me to pick out a new snake."

"I fail to see why that is so funny."

"Really?" Harry felt a smirk forming on his lips- one that would have been more at home on Severus. He had to fight off the rather distracting ideas that this thought put in his head. "What could be more ironic than The Gryffindor Golden Boy who was recently responsible for ending the Slytherin line hand-picking Slytherin's new mascot?"

Slughorn frowned. "I see your point."

"Tell you what," Harry said, gathering his things; he could already see students gathering in the classroom below his office. "I'll go to Diagon Alley this weekend and ask Severus to join me. I'm sure that between the two of us, we can find a snake that it suitably Slytherin."

Slughorn beamed. "What a wonderful idea. That would be much more appropriate, I think."

"Great, now I have a class to teach." He walked out with Slughorn, pausing at the bottom of the steps. "So, why doesn't Gryffindor have a mascot?"

"A pet snake is one thing," Slughorn said. "Can you imagine a lion roaming around Gryffindor Tower?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right," he said, but Harry almost regretted that his house hadn't had a snake for a mascot. He wouldn't have wanted to be in Slytherin of course, but- even though his parselmouth abilities were always associated with his rival house and with Voldemort- he'd always liked snakes. Ever since his first experience with the python at the zoo, and even after that business with the chamber of secrets, Harry had delighted in conversing with snakes. When he was at the Dursley's, he would spend hours lying in the grass talking to the garden snakes.

Harry walked Slughorn to the door, closed it behind him, and turned to his class. "Okay! Who wants to hex their professor today?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry walked into Severus' office and collapsed into the chair opposite the headmaster's desk. Severus looked up from his work, and his expression changed from a bored kind of attention to worried concern.

"What happened to you?"

Harry was dirty and covered with bruises, his glasses were askew, and his new green robes- Severus' favorite- were ripped along the sleeve. He looked utterly exhausted.

Harry struggled to lift his head up and grinned at him. "The students attacked me."

"What?" Severus rose to his feet and strode around the desk.

Harry just smiled again and straightened his glasses. "We were practicing hexes."

"You let the students hex you?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"What part of your demented imbecilic idea of logic made it seem like letting students who only have the barest grasp of magical control hex you was a good idea?"

"Well, when you put it like that," Harry said sheepishly.

"Idiot boy," Severus bent over Harry, healing the small cuts and abrasions on Harry's face and repairing his robes.

"The younger students weren't a problem, but I may have underestimated Ginny Weasley."

"Bat-Bogey?" Severus asked, prodding a particularly nasty cut along Harry's cheekbone with the tip of his wand.

"Ouch," Harry grabbed the end of Severus' wand and pushed it away.

"You should know better than to grab another man's wand, Potter," Severus said, snapping it away and going back to what he was doing.

"So all those fundamentalist muggles keep telling me, but I'm so good at it." Harry smirked and licked his lips. "Perhaps a demonstration of my skills would be in order."

Severus shook his head and grabbed the petulant man by a fistful of his tousled black hair so that he could force his head to one side for better access to the cut, but he was smirking too. "You're sitting here bleeding, and still all you can think of is sex."

"So far, I've spent most of my life being attacked by dark wizards, playing Quidditch, and fighting off everything from dragons, giant spiders, sphinxes, and blast-ended skrewts to overly-helpful house elves and irritable Potion Masters. If my libido went away every time I was bleeding, my sex life would be pretty uneventful."

Severus snorted derisively and removed his grip from Harry's hair as he slid his wand into his sleeve. "Madam Pomfrey would have done a better job, but you'll be fine."

"I was fine before," Harry said, leaning back in the chair and looking up at Severus. "I didn't come here for you to kiss it better."

"Then why are you here?"

Harry took Severus' hand in his and placed it back on the back of his head. Severus twined his fingers in Harry's hair. "I guess I just wanted the kiss." Harry stretched his neck, wrapping his arm back around Severus' back in an effort to meet someplace in the middle for said kiss, but Severus resisted, tightening his grip on Harry's hair and pulling his head back, baring his young lover's neck.

"What about the better part?"

Harry smirked. "There are better ways of feeling better than magic. There are even better ways of feeling better than magic kisses."

"Like what Mr. Potter?"

"It's Professor Potter now," Harry reminded him.

"Well then, Professor Potter, edify me. What exactly could I do to make you feel better?"

"Push me up against the wall and make me yours."

"But, you're already mine." Severus leaned over him, ghosting lips over Harry's exposed neck without ever actually touching skin.

"Then make me believe it," Harry challenged.

"Are you suggesting that I don't have your unquestioning fealty now?"

"Unquestioning," Harry turned the word over in his mouth. "No, you'll never have that, no one will. What's the point of having free will if you don't use it? I doubt you would want my unquestioning loyalty anyway. Nothing bought so easily is ever worth very much."

Severus loosened his grip on Harry's hair in surprise. He never would have expected such wisdom coming from Potter; it was borderline philosophical. "When did you get so clever? Is it possible that you have unplumbed depths?"

"If you find any, feel free to plumb them for me," he responded cheekily.

"Ah, see, there's the Potter I know and love."

"I love you too Sev, and I know that all the banter and bickering is foreplay for you, but if you don't kiss me real soon, I'm going to have to try out that Bat-Bogey Hex for myself."

"Was that a threat, Potter?"

Harry adopted a quizzical expression. "Why yes, you might be right; I believe it was." Then the expression faded away and the smirk was back- which made it really had for Severus to restrain himself from complying with the boy's wishes. "Some people would be very worried if I threatened them. I did just kill Voldemort, you know. The Daily Prophet says I'm the most powerful wizard alive."

"The Daily Prophet also said that you were dating Hermione Granger at one point; it's hardly a reliable source. Then again, it also said that you were insane, so maybe it has some credibility."

"I'm starting to feel serious about that hexing thing."

"Well, I suppose we'll have to come to some sort of accord then," Severus said, lowering his lips teasingly close to Harry's.

Harry's breath hitched in his throat. "I'm willing to negotiate."

"Your rooms not mine. Minerva was looking for me earlier, and I don't want to be interrupted."

"You don't think she'll be able to find you in my bed?"

"After this weekend, I don't think Minerva will be going anywhere near your bed. Anyway, I thought you wanted a long hard screw against the wall."

Harry moaned. "Bed, wall, sofa, shower, kitchen table, I don't care. Just stop teasing me, and you can have me anyway you like."

"You aren't very good at negotiating."

"You cheat."

"There are no rules. All's fair in love and war."

"Which one is this?"

"Both, Harry," he brushed his fingers across his lover's cheek, and Harry leaned into the touch. "It's always best when it's both."

"Then, I surrender."

"I suppose I'll have to begin my occupation." Severus brushed his fingers across Harry's lips, and Harry took one into his mouth and sucked gently.

"It would bring an end to hostilities," Harry said, around Severus' finger.

Severus let go of Harry's hair and offered him a hand to help him to his feet. He kept hold of the hand after Harry was on his feet and led him across the hall.

"Oh hello," Albus Dumbledore greeted them.

His portrait had replaced the old one, temporarily, until they could find something more permanent. Greggory was currently hanging in the Slytherin common room where his apparent lack of morals would be more appreciated- though Bertram probably would have been more welcome somewhere else.

"I suppose the two of you will be sneaking off for a quickie before dinner," Dumbledore said happily as the portrait swung open. "Just don't wear him out too quickly, my boy."

"Sev?" Harry said, as they entered his rooms.

"Yes?"

"I miss Greg."

"Too bad, you're stuck with Albus now," Severus said, pulling Harry with him onto the sofa. "It was so quiet in my office today; I actually managed to get some work done."

"Well, having him watching my door all day and night makes me uncomfortable," Harry said. Though, said discomfort didn't stop him from unbuttoning Severus' robes.

"I agree completely. That's why he's watching over you now and not me."

"Yeah, well I don't care what he says," Harry said, finally exposing some skin underneath all those layers and buttons. He licked one nipple, and Severus breathed out heavily. "I'm going to wear you out as quickly and thoroughly as possible."

"Actually," Severus said, adjusting himself on the sofa so that Harry would have better access. "He was talking to me."

Harry stopped and pulled back to look at Severus. His expression was blank for a moment and then he was laughing.

"What's funny, Potter?"

"He called you 'my boy'- that's hilarious."

Severus scowled.

"Well, feel free to wear me out as quickly and thoroughly as you can."

Severus grabbed Harry by the hips and pulled him down so that he was lying on the sofa, then he removed the younger man's robes and plundered his mouth. Harry's skillful tongue met his without a moment's hesitation, and Severus wrapped his arms around Harry, relishing the feeling of the warm smooth skin against his hands.

Harry's hands fumbled at Severus' robes, not making any further progress at removing them. Severus relented, offering him a hand, and soon they were both more properly attired for what they had planned for the rest of the evening.

"Does this mean you're done teasing me?"

"I'll never be done teasing you, Harry," Severus was kissing the inside of his thigh and Harry moaned.

"Please," Harry begged, bucking beneath him.

"Well, since you ask so prettily," Severus responded, taking the boy into his mouth: effectively ending his side of the conversation.

Harry let out a moan as Severus ran a tongue down his length and gave a gentle suck. He twined his fingers in Severus' long ebony hair. He still wasn't used to how soft it felt beneath his fingers, and he moaned again, shutting his eyes tight. He had said that the banter and bickering was only foreplay for Severus, but that was a lie. The deep velvety sound of the man's voice was enough to make him hard, and when he argued with Harry, lacing into him, calling him an idiot, or foolhardy, or naïve, or irrepressible, it was all Harry could do to keep from coming in his pants. Harry didn't last long now. His fists tightened in Severus's hair, and he came hard into his lover's mouth.

A moment later Severus resurfaced next to Harry, stretching out alongside him on the sofa. Harry turned in toward him and kissed him on the forehead before he closed his eyes and snuggled into Severus' chest.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Sleepy," Harry mumbled.

"Oh no you don't," Severus said, pushing Harry away. "I'm not done with you yet."

"But I got hexed," Harry protested, leaning back in. "I want a nap."

"Then you had better earn it," Severus said, grinding his groin into Harry's hip.

Harry's eyes shot open. "Oh, right," he said, suddenly energetic again. "In the bedroom, I think."

"As you like," Severus acquiesced. He grabbed the bottle of lube that they kept stashed between the sofa cushions, and applied it to his hard cock as he followed Harry into the bedroom. As soon as they were in the bedroom with the door closed, he grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him down on the bed. He barely gave Harry time to draw a startled breath before he put a restraining hand on his hip and pushed himself inside.

Harry let out a startled gasp, and Severus stilled himself waiting for Harry to adjust. He'd managed to coat himself with a generous amount of lubricant, but hadn't prepared Harry at all. That didn't seem to bother Harry much though, because after a moment he gripped the headboard and thrust back onto Severus.

That was all the permission he needed. Severus gripped one of Harry's shoulders with one hand, keeping the other steady on the boy's hip and gave into his primal urges, desperately thrusting into the willing body beneath him.

He felt himself nearing completion, and reached a hand around to give Harry a few jerky pulls and bring him off over the edge a few seconds before Severus lost all control. He held Harry still as he exploded into that tight hot body and collapsed on top of him, panting.

"Did I earn my nap?" Harry asked breathlessly after a moment of silence.

"Oh yes," Severus said as he rolled to the side, but the words had no more than left his mouth when there was a persistent tapping sound at the window. A large tawny owl fluttered on the other side of the glass, trying to get their attention.

With a groan, Severus rose to let it in and relieved it of its burden. "It's from Charlie Weasley," he announced, throwing it onto Harry's lap as he got back into bed.

"I lost my glasses," Harry mumbled. "You read it."

Severus waved his hand in a skillful display of wandless magic. "Accio Harry's spectacles." They flew neatly into his hand, and he dropped them in Harry's lap on top of the letter.

Harry tossed both aside with a groan and turned away into his pillow. "I don't need glasses for sleeping," came his muffled reply. "You read it, and I'm going to go to sleep."

Severus sighed, but broke the seal and opened the letter.

"Harry,

"Your letter was very interesting. If you don't think it would be a problem, I would like to see the Slytherin boy's injuries for myself. As for the invisible dragon theory, I've never encountered a dragon with that ability, but sometimes very old dragons develop strange powers. I will try to look into it further. I've attached some information on the Peruvian snow dragon that you might find useful, and I also included the details on that incantation that you asked about- as well as a tracking spell that will come in handy if you find it.

"Best of luck,

"~Charlie"

Harry sighed and sat up in bed. "Give me the information he sent." Severus handed over the few pages of loose leaf parchment that Charlie had included with his letter. Harry took them and paged through, glancing over the information Charlie had included before moving on to the incantation: _revealio draconis_. Harry could have almost laughed. He would have stood a fair shot of getting the right incantation if he had simply guessed. The wandwork was tricky though; Charlie had included a diagram. "Write him back, would you? There's parchment in that drawer." Harry pointed to a secretary table near the window.

Severus walked over to it, pulled a couple pieces of parchment, a quill, and some ink from the secretary, and was about to ask Harry what he should write, when he realized that he was taking orders- from Harry Potter, no less. And the worst part was he didn't even really mind that much. "Bloody hell," he cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," he grumbled. _At least the sex was good._ "What do you want me to write?"

"Harry thought about it for a second. "Is it okay if he comes to look at Damian's wounds?"

"I don't see why not. I'd welcome an expert opinion."

"Write that then. Just make sure that it's from you. If you use that elegant penmanship and overabundant vocabulary of yours and then put my name on the bottom, Charlie will know something's going on."

"My vocabulary is not overabundant, though, compared to yours, I can understand why he would be alarmed."

"My vocabulary isn't actually that bad. You've just been saying it for so many years that you believe it now without question."

"You once used the word effectivelessness in a Potion's essay."

"That was second year," Harry protested, "and I think that the several inches of scathing comments that I received in response to that essay were punishment enough."

Severus smiled in a satisfied way as he remembered how much he had enjoyed writing them. "There was a marked improvement afterward, so it must have made some kind of impact."

"I sure as hell didn't turn in an essay, without having Hermione proof-read it first, after that."

Severus shrugged, "As long as it meant that I didn't have to suffer through any other convoluted words of your own creation. Your sense of sentence structure and writing style was torturous enough- not to mention trying to determine what it was you were actually trying to say."

Harry tried not to feel too insulted by this. With his new experience as a teacher, he could sympathize at least, and he supposed that Severus had a point. His writing style had definitely been rather abysmal at that point. "Anyway," he said finally. "I like to think that my vocabulary has improved some since then, especially now that I'm spending so much time with you."

"It's good to know that I'm having a positive influence."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Yes, I suppose, what with the consorting with Slytherins and all, most people would say that I'm corrupting you."

"It's too late for that," Harry said, stretching out on the bed to show all of that toned nude flesh. "I think I've already been good and corrupted." He let out a satisfied moan to emphasize his point.

Severus snorted, but he was smiling and his eyes were roaming across the pleasing sight before him. "Okay, how is this then? Not that I trust your opinion regardless of whatever minor improvements have been made to your vocabulary," he lifted his drafted letter and read it to Harry.

"Mr. Weasley,

"Professor Potter has shared the information you've provided, and I thank you for your assistance in this matter. I would welcome your input as to the exact cause of Mr. Warrick's injuries, and welcome you to stop by sometime tomorrow at your convenience.

"Sincerely,

"Headmaster Severus Snape."

"That's perfect, now send it and come back to bed."

Severus found himself once more following orders, but as he slipped back into bed and Harry curled into him, he decided that he really didn't mind much at all.

"I take it we won't be making an appearance at dinner then?"

"Yes," Harry said, responding to Severus' tone rather than the actual question. "I'll make you potatoes later."

Severus smiled and closed his eyes.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Charlie Weasley to see you," one of the portraits behind Severus announced, he didn't bother to look to see which one. Severus waved his wand in the direction of his staircase to let him enter without the password.

Charlie arrived into view a moment later. Severus hadn't seen him in a few years, and had to admit that he looked pretty good. He had grown his hair out, nowhere near as long as his brother Bill's, but still much longer than it had been the last time Severus had seen him. The effect was to make his face look less rounded and his jaw a little more pronounced. It made him look more masculine and a little older.

"Headmaster," Charlie said, inclining his head.

"Mr. Weasley," Severus greeted, rising from his seat. "Thank you for coming."

"I'm happy to help," he replied. "The way Harry tells it, the whole wizarding world owes you a couple favors. I'm happy to let you cash one in."

Severus nodded curtly, not quite sure how to respond to that. He didn't feel as though anyone owed him anything. "Shall we then?"

They walked down to the infirmary in companionable silence. They'd worked together occasionally with The Order, and Severus had always liked Charlie. He was a good man: honest and straightforward. Severus respected that.

He held the door open for Charlie when they reached the infirmary, and the Weasley flashed him a grin: white teeth shining against the tan skin. For some reason that smile made him feel very uncomfortable, and Severus followed him in a little apprehensively.

"Hello there, you must be Mr. Warrick," Charlie said, as he crossed the infirmary and offered his hand to Damian.

Damian shook it and shot Severus an uncertain glance.

"This is Mr. Weasley," Severus introduced, moving to stand next to him at Damian's bedside. "He's an expert on dragons, and he came to take a look at your back, if that's okay. He's a friend of Professor Potter's."

"And the headmaster," Charlie added, flashing Severus a smile.

"Okay then," Damian said with a shrug. "You'll have to help me with my shirt though, my shoulder is still pretty sore."

They helped him out of his t-shirt, and Damian put up with being poked and prodded pretty well until Charlie was finished with his examination. Severus thought that the wounds were looking a lot better today. The bruises had faded to a yellow; the cuts were healed now, only discernable as reddish marks against the otherwise pale skin, and even the burns had begun to heal quite nicely. He didn't see how Charlie would be able to learn anything.

"So, what do you think?" Severus asked when Charlie was finished.

"Definitely a snow dragon," Charlie concluded, helping Damian back into his shirt. "Snow dragon burns get this feathering on the edge," Charlie pointed to the edge of the exposed burn on the back of the boy's right arm, "but, based on the barbs on the edges of the cuts and the pattern of the bruising, I would say it would have to be an adolescent dragon. The Peruvian's are one of the smaller breeds, but by the width of the bruising- even if it was a Peruvian- it would only be in its second or third molt."

"Does that make invisibility out of the question?"

Charlie shrugged. "It makes it a lot less likely, at least if you're attributing it to the dragon, but this whole situation seems highly unusual, so I wouldn't completely discount it."

Severus frowned. Charlie's report only seemed to raise more questions. He'd gone with Potter down to the Room of Requirement to search for dragons with the spell Charlie had given them, but they hadn't found anything. Severus felt as though he was beating his head against a brick wall.

"Will you stay for lunch?" Severus asked, gesturing to Charlie that they should go. "Thank you for your time Mr. Warrick," he added. "We'll let you get back to your studies. I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on."

Damian grinned in response. He was getting settled back under the covers. "Actually, I'm still ahead. I don't suppose you could convince Madam Pomfrey to let me go back to my dorms or nip down to the library; I'm going spare locked up here with nothing to do."

"I'll see what I can do."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was very uncomfortable. He tapped the bowl of his spoon against the table in an agitated staccato rhythm.

Charlie was sitting between him and Severus, but that wasn't what was bothering him. It had him annoyed, sure. He would have been a whole lot more comfortable with Severus' hand on his thigh under the table. No, what had him so uncomfortable was the fact that Draco was sitting on his other side making very thinly veiled comments about his sex life.

Charlie seemed too intent on his lunch, stuffing his face with nearly as much gusto as would have been expected of his youngest brother, to really notice, but every time Draco made a racy comment Harry felt his muscles stiffen and his face turned red. Draco seemed to think this was hilarious, and instead of coming to his rescue Severus just sat there smirking in amusement.

"Hey, Potter," Malfoy said, smirking. "Pass me the butter, would you? Or were you and Sev planning on using that for something else?" Draco let just the right amount of licentious intention creep into his voice to make it absolutely clear as to what he was referring.

"No, you can have it, Draco." Severus passed the butter down to him. "I have my own special recipe that I like to use, and- if I'm not mistaken- Harry prefers strawberry."

Harry shot him a look of betrayal, but Severus just smiled at him, a dancing glimmer in his eyes.

"Do you guys mind," Charlie said finally. "I'm trying to eat."

Harry's gaze snapped over to Charlie, assessing the look on his face and coming to a fairly unsettling conclusion. "Wait, you know?" Harry looked at Charlie meaningfully and gestured between Severus and himself.

"Yeah, Ron told me," Charlie said, going back to his breakfast- clearly not bothered by the information.

Harry paled. "He didn't tell Ginny, did he?"

Charlie chuckled. "No, I don't think he has a death wish."

Harry groaned and shut his eyes tight. He hadn't given much thought to what Ginny's reaction might be. They had decided not to get back together by mutual agreement, and Ginny knew that Harry's tastes had leant more toward the masculine sex, but once upon a time they had been involved, and he didn't want to hurt her.

"I don't think she'll take it that hard," Charlie reassured him. "She's pretty serious about Lee Jordan these days."

"Jordan?" Draco asked in disbelief. "Why's she wasting her time with that git? She's way out of his league."

Privately, Harry had to agree, but if it would minimize her feelings of attachment to Harry, then he hoped she and Lee were happy together. "You don't seem too bothered," Harry said when Charlie still hadn't really made any indication as to how he felt about the whole thing.

Charlie shrugged, turning to give Severus that smile that made him nervous again. When he looked back at Harry, he was smirking. "Actually, I kind of get what you see in him. If you hadn't beaten me to it, you might've had some competition." Charlie made this remark offhandedly and went back to his lunch.

Severus was spluttering. He'd never really been speechless before and didn't much care for the sensation. This explained why Charlie's smiles made him uncomfortable anyway, and now Harry was looking at him. Severus didn't know what to say; it's not as though he'd ever been in this predicament before. He knew that he wasn't particularly attractive. He had a few nice physical qualities, but the overall package was unremarkable. He could understand it if someone was attracted to him for his intelligence, but neither Charlie nor Harry struck him as particularly brilliant. Harry was skilled and powerful, and Charlie was well versed in his area of expertise, but that wasn't the same thing. And here he was, completely tongue-tied and taken by surprise, and Harry was looking at him like he owed him some kind of explanation. Severus just didn't know what to say. He edged away from Charlie.

Seeing the look on Severus' face, Harry couldn't help but start laughing. He just looked so confused. "Well, he's mine Charlie, so hands off," Harry said when he was done laughing.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Charlie replied. "What about you, Malfoy?" he asked, glancing over at him. "Do you want a Gryffindor of your very own?"

Draco made a disgusted face. "No thanks, I don't date Weasleys."

Charlie shrugged, "your loss."

"They don't have all those children for nothing, you know," Harry added before his brain could stop him.

There was a moment of silence, and then they were all laughing.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It didn't occur to Harry until a few days later, when he was reading _Hogwarts, A History_, what a huge oversight he had made. They had hit a dead end with their investigation. He had thought that the only place to hide a dragon within the castle walls without anyone knowing would be in The Room of Requirement. It's true that it had all the necessary amenities, but it was easily accessible to anyone who knew where it was.

There was a much better place for the founder of Slytherin house to hide an illicit dragon.

So, here they were, Thursday night, covered in slime in a pile at the bottom of the chute leading down into the Chamber of Secrets.

"Had you mentioned," Severus said tersely as he extracted himself from Harry, "that the trip down would be so jarring, I would have devised a better method of entrance."

"Didn't you feel the wards?" Harry asked, brushing off his robes- not that it did much good. The house elves wouldn't be pleased. "We wouldn't be able to apparate down even if you had lowered the restrictions, and the spells that they use on brooms are blocked too."

"Still, I doubt Salazar Slytherin arrived in an undignified heap on the floor."

"I'm sure he made a very dignified heap," Harry said in a consoling tone, patting Severus on the back.

"I'm serious, Harry. There's probably another entrance to this place." Severus stood a few feet off, looking around. They were in the small antechamber at the bottom of the chute, and there wasn't much to see except for a pile of rubble with a small hole cleared though and a lot more carvings of snakes.

"Well, if there is another entrance, I'm sure we'll have better luck finding it from the inside." Harry walked over to the rubble and squeezed through the hole. It was a much tighter fit now than it had been when he was twelve.

"Um, Harry," Severus said from the other side. "I'm quite a bit taller than you. I don't think I'm going to fit through that little hole."

"It's a bit of a squeeze, but you should be able to make it."

"No, I don't think so."

Harry looked up at the ceiling doubtfully. "I don't think I'll be able to blast away the rubble without the ceiling caving in and crushing us under tons of debris."

Severus' head appeared at the hole. "And, I don't think I can fit through this tiny hole without shrinking at least half a meter and losing a couple stone."

Harry glanced at the opening thoughtfully. It was small, but not that small. "Just try. I think you'll be able to make it. If you can't we'll have to move some of the rocks out of the way by hand. It would be better if we don't use magic. The ceiling must be weak here anyway; it caved in when Ron's wand backfired on Lockhart."

"And what if I get stuck?"

Harry frowned, taking in Severus' pallid face and uncertain expression. There was sweat standing out on his forehead; he looked terrified. Come to think of it, he had looked terrified since they'd left the girl's bathroom. "Are you claustrophobic?" Harry asked, trying hard not to smile.

Severus didn't respond, but the look on his face seemed answer enough. Harry sighed and began moving some of the rubble on his side of the opening out of the way to make the opening larger.

"You spend half of your life in constant danger, secretly fighting against Voldemort, but the mere thought of squeezing your way through a tight space has you breaking out in a cold sweat."

Severus grunted as he strained to lift a heavy rock on his side out of the way. "I am capable of experiencing the full range of human emotion- fear included."

"But this is irrational fear. I thought you Slytherins were all about being rational. Maybe you should go back and look for Helga Hufflepuff's secret boudoir or something instead."

Severus' head appeared at the opening to glare at Harry.

Harry just smiled and shifted another rock. "You don't scare me. I'm a Gryfindor. Big scary potions masters who are afraid of confined spaces don't scare me one bit."

"Always used to," Severus grumbled.

"Yeah, well I've seen you naked now, so you have no power over me."

"We both know that's a lie," Severus said, pitching his voice low and even more sultry than usual.

Harry's cock silently agreed.

"Okay, so you've lost the power to scare me."

"I didn't lose it," Severus argued. "I just traded it in for something better."

"Do you think you can make it through now?" Harry asked as he moved a large boulder out of the way, making the space quite a bit larger.

Severus stepped through easily. "Much better," he said, leaning over to kiss Harry brusquely on the lips. He stepped back, raising his wand to light the way ahead of him, and continued on down the tunnel.

"It smells awful down here," Severus said as the tunnel ended at a plain stone wall guarded by enormous stone snakes.

"That would probably be the basilisk I killed," Harry said, as though this were commonplace. "I don't understand why Dumbledore never sent anyone down here to clean it up and have a look around. I would have expected that finding the Chamber of Secrets would have some kind of historical significance for the school."

"It does," Severus answered, "but there's no way to get down here, unless you're a parselmouth, and Dumbledore refused to ask you. He seemed to think that you might have found a repeat trip traumatic."

Harry shrugged, turning to the statues and hissing. "I wouldn't have minded," he said as the wall in front of them slid open.

They were assaulted by the smell of rotting meat, and both Harry and Severus quickly covered their noses with the sleeves of their robes. The rotting body of the basilisk lay stretched across nearly the entire chamber.

"Such a waste," Severus said, his covered nose making him sound comical.

"What's that?"

"Basilisk skin and bones are worth quite a lot as potions ingredients. That's a small fortune that's just been rotting away below the school. My personal stores are quite full at the moment, of course, but it seems like such a waste."

"Full?" Harry asked. "You mean Nagini?"

Severus nodded, stepping forward to inspect the corpse- which almost looked like it was moving under the large infestation of maggots.

"I'm surprised you used her. I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere near that snake."

Severus shrugged a little one-sidedly, since he still had his nose covered. "I found the harvest kind of cathartic actually."

"You would, you malicious bastard."

"I might actually be able to salvage some of this," Severus said, straightening form his inspection. "It would be worth it to sell, even if I can't use it myself. It doesn't look like anything other than insects has been eating it."

Harry shrugged, "Maybe basilisk doesn't taste good."

"If the dragon is down here, it wouldn't have a lot to eat, which might explain its size, but the basilisk wouldn't have gone untouched."

"You're probably right." Harry sighed. He had been so sure that he had it solved. "Still..." He lifted his wand in the air, and with an intricate motion cast, "revealio draconis."

_Nothing._

"Well, so much for that idea," Harry said glumly.

"As long as we're down here, we might as well have a look around," Severus said, setting off toward the other end of the chamber and the enormous statue of Slytherin.

Harry followed him, stopping before the statue. He glanced down at the spot between its feet where Ginny had lain dying. He looked up at Severus who was inspecting the runes that covered the statue. He looked good with that expression of concentration on his face; it eliminated the scowl lines around his mouth.

Harry would have to talk to Ginny about Severus. If she was really that serious about Lee Jordan, then she wouldn't mind too much, but it would still hurt. She had the right to know though, and it would be better if she found out from Harry. He was in love, and sooner or later he would want to follow that love to its logical conclusion.

Marriage bonds had to be registered with the Ministry of Magic, and, as soon as it was, Harry was sure there would be a front page article in The Prophet and every other major magical publication. It would cause quite a scandal- always assuming that news of their relationship hadn't leaked out before then. Whenever that information made its way out into the wizarding public, it was going to cause problems. Maybe a controlled release of the information would help to neutralize or at least minimize some of the fallout. It was a little early to be thinking about marriage; they'd only been dating for a few weeks. And yet, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that that was where this was heading.

Harry glanced over at Severus again. He was practically pressed against the stone floor, trying to read the runes inscribed at the bottom of Salazar's robes. He smiled fondly. Severus was just so intent. It reminded him of the boy he'd seen scribbling madly away at his Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.

Yes, Harry could definitely see himself starting a family with this man. He desperately wanted to start a family with this man. In a way, they were both orphans, and Harry wouldn't be surprised if that was what Severus wanted too.

He got elegantly to his feet. How he managed to appear elegant when he was covered in slime, Harry couldn't imagine. "Harry, come look at this," Severus sounded normal again- apparently he was too interested in the inscription to notice the smell anymore.

Harry strode over and raised his wand to the carvings Severus was pointing at.

"Can you read that?" Severus asked.

"I never took ancient runes."

"These aren't runes."

Harry looked at the carvings doubtfully. "They look like runes to me."

Severus shook his head. "Ancient runes are boxy. These flow into each other. Besides, I can read ancient runes, and this doesn't mean anything to me. I think it might be a written form of parseltongue."

"Snakes can't write, Sev. They don't have hands." Harry waved his hands in front of Severus' face to illustrate his point.

Severus grabbed Harry by the wrists and lowered his hands to his sides. "No, but wizards can. Just look; if I'm right, then the words should just resolve themselves."

"You know, just because you're usually right, doesn't mean that…" but suddenly Harry could feel the parseltongue forming on his lips.

Severus looked a little startled listening to Harry hiss the words out between his teeth. When Harry had finished reading the inscription, Severus asked, "Do you know what you said? Can you translate that?"

"Of course I know what I said," Harry strode around to the front of the statue. "It reads, _those true to Salazar Slytherin may gain entrance by standing in supplication at my feet_." Harry bounced up and down on the ground in front of the statue. "Nothing's happening."

"I wouldn't exactly classify you as _true to Slytherin_," Severus pointed out. "Let me try." He stood before the statue, but still nothing happened.

"Hufflepuff," Harry accused.

Severus scowled.

"I don't see how the statue would be able to tell whether we were true to Slytherin or not, anyway. There must be something we're missing." Harry hissed quietly to himself, going over the inscription again. "_At my feet_," Harry repeated in English. "I think there must be some kind of secret lever on the feet." He looked them over and noticed an extra deep crease around the toenail on Salazar's big toe. Harry climbed up and jumped on it a few times. Slowly, the nail gave way under his weight, and a portion of Slytherin's robes slid away to grant them access. As it did, recessed torches lit all around the chamber, bathing it in light as bright as day.

They glanced around the chamber now that they could see properly, but there wasn't much to see, so they walked through the secret passage into the room within the statue. Inside was a dowdy little sitting room. It must have been charmed to stay clean, because there wasn't a speck of dust in the place. The furniture was worn and old fashioned. There were a couple bookshelves, a low couch, and a fireplace. The desk was covered with papers.

Harry gestured to the fireplace. "I'm guessing that's the other entrance."

"You think no one's ever tried to floo to The Chamber of Secrets before?"

Harry glanced at the pot of floo powder on the mantelpiece. "You probably have to say it in parseltongue, but we can probably floo back to your office from here."

"That's my desk," Severus said, gesturing to it.

"What?"

"That's exactly the same as my desk. All of the founders had one made from the same tree: an old oak that they had to cut down to break ground for the castle. Gryffindor's is in my office. Sprout has Hufflepuff's, and Ravenclaw's is in Minerva's office. No one ever knew what happened to Slytherin's desk." Severus ran his hands over the dark wood reverently.

"Why does McGonagall have Ravenclaw's?"

"Previously, the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor desks have always gone to the head of house, but Dumbledore wanted to keep Gryffindor's, and Ravenclaw's was too big for Flitwick, so Minerva ended up with that one. Come look at this."

Severus had circled around behind the desk, and Harry joined him. Severus opened the front drawer to reveal an elaborate relief carving of the snake from the Hogwarts coat of arms.

"Mine has a lion in it," Severus explained, tracing the lines of the snake with his fingers. "This desk should belong to the head of Slytherin; it should've been mine. It would have been an honor to use it."

"Well, now that we know where it is, we can bring it up to your office."

Severus smiled sadly, closing the drawer. "Unfortunately, that honor is no longer mine to claim. This desk belongs in Slughorn's office now."

Harry didn't much care for that idea. "Still, you're the headmaster. If you used this desk, then McGonagall could have the Gryffindor desk, and if Slughorn really wants to use one he can have Ravenclaw's."

"Perhaps," Severus acceded, looking over the papers on the desk. "Everything in here needs to be catalogued and documented before we can even think about moving any of it anyway. Most of the items in here are priceless."

That was definitely true. Harry took a large broadsword down from where it was hung above the fireplace. It could have been a twin for Gryffindor's, save that it was encrusted with emeralds instead of rubies.

Harry ran his finger along the inscription: _Salazar Slytherin_. He put the sword back on its pegs and turned his attention to a small wooden chest that sat between the pot of floo powder and a small framed portrait of a red-headed man who was obviously Godric Gryffindor. The box opened with a creak. It contained a couple dozen letters- yellowed with age. Harry pulled the top one out and carefully folded open the brittle parchment to read it.

"What do you have there?" Severus asked, coming around the desk to have a look himself.

"They're love letters from Gryffindor," Harry said.

"He would be the sentimental type. What does it say?"

"My Dear Salazar," Harry read.

"I saw you swimming in the lake this morning, and I desperately wanted to join you. I used to love going for our morning swim- especially in late September when the water was cold and everyone said that we were crazy. I can almost feel the heat of your warming spell and your hands on my body as we made love under the water.

"My longing for you is a constant ache, a palpable reminder of all my mistakes. I will always love you, and I only wish that I had been strong enough to keep you. For all that I value courage, I feel like a coward.

"Audrey watches me constantly. Ever since she walked in on us in my office, she never takes her eyes of me. It's like being some rare animal in a menagerie. I feel trapped. I never should have married her; she means nothing to me. If it weren't for the children, I would leave her.

"You are my everything, and I don't think I can live without you. I don't want to live without you. I need you. Only say that you need me, and everything will be alright.

"You have my love and myself.

"Always,

"Godric."

Severus had slipped his arm around Harry's waist while he read, and Harry turned to look at him as he carefully folded the letter and put it back in the box. "It's so sad. I read the section about the founders in _Hogwarts, A History_. Gryffindor ended up leaving his wife, but Slytherin never took him back."

Severus turned Harry towards him. He cupped Harry's jaw with his free hand and wiped his tears away with the side of his thumb. Harry looked away, not meeting his eyes, and Severus bent to kiss him. The kiss was tender, without their usual needy sexual energy; it was born of love, emotion, and the need for comfort. Severus decided he wanted to kiss Harry like this forever.

When they broke apart, Harry was smiling. "I love you," he whispered.

Severus held him close and kissed the top of his head. Harry twined his fingers in Severus' soft hair. "I love you too," Severus said. "Now, we should go through this stuff to look for information on what happened to the dragon." When he broke away to go back to the desk, he refused to meet Harry's eyes. _That was just way too much intimacy for his Slytherin self to feel comfortable with._

After half an hour of digging through Slytherin's desk, while Harry continued to read Gryffindor's letters, Severus found something. In Slytherin's bottom drawer, under a pile of parchment and a set of chess pieces, Severus found several pieces of dragon-eggshell.

"I found a reference to the dragon in one of the older letters," Harry said, just as Severus was pulling the eggshells out. He walked over to the desk, holding another letter. "It says, _Abbaraxis is getting so big. His wingspan must be twelve feet already. I saw the two of you out flying yesterday, and you could hardly keep up. Send him my love. I'm leaving for the ministry. It's going to be a long couple of weeks without you. Love, Godric. _ Slytherin must have named the dragon Abbaraxis. Does that mean anything to you?"

Severus shook his head. "No, but I found some eggshells. I'll send one of the pieces to Charlie, so that he can analyze it."

"No, I think I'll send it to Charlie," Harry said, grabbing one of the broken pieces off the desk.

Severus smirked. "I was wondering how long it would take for that to come up."

"What?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't tell me you're jealous."

"No, well…" Harry hedged, "there's nothing to be jealous of; is there?"

Severus let him stew for just a moment before reassuring him. "As Draco so eloquently put it, I don't date Weasleys."

Harry smiled. "I guess I can't say the same thing." Harry examined the piece of eggshell in his hand. "Seriously though, you don't find him attractive at all?"

If he said no it would be a lie, and Severus wasn't the sort of man to tell white lies; he believed in the integrity of brutal honesty. "Yes, I find him very attractive, and if he'd offered himself to me a few months ago, I very much doubt that I would have said no, but it doesn't matter now. I love you, Harry." He reached out to brush a hand along Harry's cheek. "You, of all people, should know that my love is loyal and fierce and forever, so you'd better get used to having me around. Now, enough of this silly Gryffindor sentimentality. Besides, as far as the public is concerned, you're the most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world, so if anyone's going to worry about fidelity it should be me."

"You know I would never-" Harry began, but Severus cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips.

"Your assurances are not necessary," Severus said. "I trust you. Now, come on. Take the letters and the eggshells, and we'll see if this floo works. I'm not particularly eager to climb back through that little hole."

Harry chuckled and walked over to try the floo.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: As usual, I know this chapter has been a long time coming. I would say that the next one will be sooner, but it would probably be a lie. I spend a lot of time writing these chapters, and it usual takes me over a week of putting in a few hours a day to get them to the point where I feel comfortable posting them, and the truth is, I'm just too busy to make all that effort more than once a month or so. However, the muses are speaking to me again, so you never know; I might surprise you all with a post next week.

As ever, reviews are much appreciated.


	14. Little Shop of Horrors

Give Me Life

Chapter Fourteen

Little Shop of Horrors

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was sitting in his office reading Gryffindor's love letters to Slytherin the next morning when a knock at the door drew his attention away. "Come in," he called, pulling a loose piece of parchment over the stack of letters that he was reading so that they were out of sight.

Damian Warrick entered Harry's office, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"Oh, Damian, good, I hoped you'd be by today." Harry gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "How are you feeling, all better?"

Damian sat down gingerly on the edge of the chair. "My back is still a little sore, but I'm ready to go back to class. If the headmaster hadn't sent me that care package I think I would have gone mad with boredom."

"Care package?" Harry asked. This was news to him. "What did he send you?"

"Some books and a practice chess set. He said that he would play with me when I was feeling better."

"Well, that's very nice of him." _And out of character,_ Harry didn't add. "I'm glad you stopped by today. I was hoping that you could help me with something tomorrow."

"What's that?" Damian asked.

"I suppose you heard about the Slytherin mascot."

Damian made a face. "You've heard that they're blaming me."

"Blaming _you_? Why would they blame you?"

"I was attacked the night that Atropos died. He was already very old, and some of the seventh years think that the disturbance is what killed him." Damian sounded resentful. "I'm not very popular in the common room right now."

"Well, maybe we can remedy that," Harry said. "I was hoping that you would go with me to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get a new snake."

"Why do you want me to go with you?"

"Professor Slughorn asked me to do it because I'm a parselmouth, but I'm not sure that I'm the right person to pick out a new addition to Slytherin. I was hoping to put your talents to good use," Harry explained. "I thought that maybe you would be able to sense the snakes and give me your opinion."

Damian nodded. "I could probably do that."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it," Harry said. "Charlie Weasley came to see you earlier this week?"

"The dragon guy, red hair, kinda freckly?"

"That's him," Harry said.

"Headmaster Snape said that he was your friend."

"More like family," Harry explained. "Charlie's youngest brother is my best friend, and, since I don't really have much of a family of my own, his family has kind of taken me in."

"That must be nice."

"What?"

"Having a family," Damian said, and then he blushed. "I'm sorry, that sounds stupid."

"I thought you had half a dozen siblings at home."

Damian shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't think they really think of me as part of the family."

"What about your uncle then, the one you live with?"

"We don't really talk much," Damian said. "We pretty much just share space. He spends most of his time out in his workshop."

Harry felt awkward having this conversation with Damian, but he wanted to make the boy feel better. He understood where Damian was coming from; he'd been in a similar situation growing up, but he didn't know what to say. Nothing he could say would change anything, but maybe it would help for Damian to know that he wasn't alone.

"I didn't find my family until I came to Hogwarts. When my parents died, some relatives took me in. I don't know if it was out of fear or a sense of obligation, but they were never my family. When I came here, it was like going from monochrome to Technicolor. I was so happy. I made friends and found people who accepted me for who I was. Now Hogwarts is my home, and those friends are the best family I could ask for." Harry smiled at him. "Maybe, you will find that the same is true for you."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know that Hogwarts would be happy to have you call it home." Harry could feel that warm surge of magical energy in his chest that told him the castle agreed.

Damian smiled. "I think I would like that."

Harry returned the smile, glad that he could help. "I have your homework for you," he said, handing Damian a piece of parchment with the list of his missed assignments on it. "Don't worry about getting it in right away, whenever you find the time is fine."

Damian took the list and looked over it. "It shouldn't be a problem; I've been reading ahead." He folded the parchment and put it in his pocket. "What time are we leaving for Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

"I was thinking around ten o'clock, unless you would prefer more of a lie in."

"I've been lying in bed all week," Damian said. "I've gotten enough sleep."

Harry smiled. "Ten o'clock it is then. Will you meet me in the Headmaster's office? We can floo from there."

"Is the Headmaster coming with us?"

Harry smirked. "Oh, I think I can convince him."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"I need a favor," Harry said at dinner.

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, and I want you to come with me." Harry reached for another scoop of squash.

"What's the favor part?"

"That's it; I just need you to come with me to Diagon Alley and be your usual sexy Slytherin self."

Severus smiled. He didn't think that he'd ever been called sexy before. "Why are you going to Diagon Alley?" Severus pressed.

"Slughorn wants me to pick out a new mascot for Slytherin."

"Why you?" Severus asked.

"Because I can talk to snakes," Harry hissed between his teeth, in English rather than parseltongue.

Severus let out a long sigh at the injustice of it all. Of course the only parselmouth in the school would be an insufferable Gryffindor. "Of course, and you want me to go with you, because…"

"I already said," Harry grinned. "I need you to be a sexy Slytherin."

"Talking about me again?" Draco asked, smiling arrogantly as he sat down on Harry's other side.

"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry said, not turning to look at him. "Will you come, Sev?"

"When?" Severus asked, the tone in his voice conveying easily that he was resigned to comply with Harry's wishes.

"Tomorrow morning, Damian is coming too."

"Mr. Warrick? Why?"

"I thought he might be able to help, and I figured it would be a good chance to see what he's really capable of. I'm starting to think that his ability has something to do with why he was attacked. And, apparently, the other Slytherins are blaming him for the death of the old snake, because it died the night he was attacked, so it might help to mend some bridges if he goes with us to get the new one."

"What's this _us_? I haven't agreed to anything yet."

"I can't believe they're blaming him for Atropos' death," Draco chipped in. "Even if it did have anything to do with the attack, it's not like it was Warrick's fault. He's just a scared hurt kid. They shouldn't be blaming him; that's not how Slytherin works. They're supposed to protect their own."

"Slytherin House isn't exactly known for their loyalty," Harry pointed out.

Draco and Severus both scowled at him.

"The two of you being the obvious exception, of course," Harry quickly amended. Though, how Draco Malfoy could complain about being called disloyal, Harry couldn't begin to imagine.

"Of course," Severus said.

"Will you come with me then?" Harry asked again.

Severus didn't answer right away- considering it. "I will go with you, but it counts as my other date for the month."

"No way!" Harry protested. "We can't be on a proper date in Diagon Alley, and we definitely can't be on a date if we're with a student."

Severus shrugged. "Then count me out."

"Wait a second," Draco was smiling in a confused way. "He has to take you on a certain number of dates per month?"

"Don't ask me," Harry said, shaking his head. "When he finally agreed to date me, he made me negotiate the terms and conditions of our relationship."

Draco looked at Severus in astonishment. "Seriously?"

"It's only practical to discuss what is expected in a relationship before entering into the arrangement. That way everything is out on the table to begin with, everyone's expectations are met, and no one is disappointed," Severus defended. "Since you have never been in a relationship, and would have to mend your philandering ways to even consider it, you are in no position to judge."

"Maybe not," Draco conceded, "but it doesn't make that any less weird. You should take Potter to Diagon Alley anyway. Don't make him use one of his dates for that. Besides, half the fun of dating is having someone to go out with. You should enjoy it while it lasts; eventually Potter's going to realize what a grumpy ass you are and move on to better prospects."

"Mind your own business, Draco," Severus responded tersely.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Besides, I already know he's a grumpy-ass; it's kind of hard to miss."

Harry and Draco both laughed at that, but Severus didn't seem amused.

"You're really going to make me use one of my dates?" Harry asked again, not sure if Draco's little speech had been helpful or detrimental.

"If you wish me to accompany you, then yes."

"Fine," Harry relented, "but you're taking us for ice-cream."

"That's acceptable."

Draco just shook his head in disbelief. "You're both completely mental."

"Probably," Harry shrugged and sprinkled brown sugar on his squash.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"You're reading those again?" Severus said without preamble as he walked into Harry's sitting room and sat next to him on the sofa.

Harry had been reading Gryffindor's letters again. He'd hardly let them out of his sight since he'd found them. And this was his third time reading them through.

"It's just so sad, but it's beautiful at the same time. I can't believe that I never knew about them."

"You sound like a hormonal woman. Have you learned anything useful at least?"

"That depends on your definition of the word useful. I still have absolutely no idea how a dragon that Godric Gryffindor gave Salazar Slytherin seven hundred years ago managed to get into Damian Warrick's dorm room and attack him, and I still don't know who cast the cruciatus on him, but I did learn that Gryffindor called Slytherin his _cunning little snake_."

"That's not true; you're just making that up to push my buttons."

Harry deliberately paged through the letters, picked one out, and handed it to Severus.

"_My cunning little Snake_," Severus read with a groan and handed the letter back to Harry. "Fine, but in what way is that useful?"

"Right now? I have no idea, but it's certainly interesting, and it could prove to be useful later."

"Knowledge is power," Severus offered.

"Knowledge is useful, but it's not power," Harry argued. "It's exploitable to those who want power, but I think you'll find that power is power."

"Perhaps," Severus allowed. "But if I exploit my knowledge to gain power, then isn't that the same thing?"

"Maybe, but you have to be willing to exploit that knowledge in the first place, if you're not willing to do that, then it doesn't matter."

Severus smirked, his voice dropping to a low sultry tone. "And if I am willing to exploit that knowledge?"

"Then it depends on what knowledge you have," Harry smiled, not quite sure where Severus was going with this, but quite eager to get there.

Severus leaned in and ran his tongue along the length of Harry's neck, stopping in the hollow of Harry's jaw right below Harry's earlobe and suckling for a moment. "I know that this drives you crazy," Severus whispered, his lips brushing against the cup of Harry's ear.

Harry felt himself being swayed to Severus' side of the argument, not that he could really remember which side of the argument either one of them were on, or what they were arguing about. _Oh right, knowledge is power_. Harry moaned as Severus bit down lightly on his earlobe. "I know things too," Harry said, squirming under him.

"Such as?" Severus slipped a hand under Harry's shirt and reached up to stroke Harry's nipple.

Harry moaned again, throwing his head back. Severus was still sucking on his neck, and, between that and the attention he was giving Harry's nipple, he was having a hard time thinking. "I know that this does the same thing to you," Harry mumbled as he tangled his fingers in the hair at the nape of Severus' neck and tugged very lightly, "but you're wearing entirely too many clothes for me to really exploit all of the things I know about you."

Severus grunted at the feel of Harry's hand at the back of his head, and Harry felt the sudden hardness of Severus' erection against his hip. "We could probably remedy that," Severus said, removing his hand from under Harry's shirt so that he could pull it off, and then concentrating his attention on Harry's belt.

"I said that you were wearing too many clothes," Harry protested. "Not that I was."

Severus immediately stopped, his hands still on Harry's zipper. "What are you saying, Potter?"

"That I want you naked, Snape," Harry replied, smirking. "You really need to refine those listening skills."

"Ah see, it sounded to me like you were saying that you didn't want me to take your trousers off," Severus responded, pulling down Harry's zipper.

"Well that would just be crazy," Harry said, lifting his hips so that Severus could pull them off. "Really though, if you don't start removing some of your clothes, I'm going to have to take drastic measures."

"Feel free," Severus said, sitting back on his calves and stretching his arms out to allow Harry easy access.

"If you say so," Harry said smirking, and Severus only had a split second to look worried before his robes disappeared.

"Please tell me you did not just banish my robes," Severus said between gritted teeth.

Harry just smirked cheekily.

"You're going to pay for that, Potter," Severus growled.

"Well, that _was_ my plan," Harry said, leaning back and spreading his legs.

Severus was more than happy to take the invitation.

xXxXxXxXxXx

They were sitting in Severus' office the next morning, drinking tea, and waiting for Damian Warrick.

"You're late, Mr. Warrick," Severus said when the boy finally arrived.

Harry glanced at his watch. "By a minute maybe, lighten up Sev." Harry punched him playfully in the arm, and Severus scowled at him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Headmaster," Damian apologized quickly. "I would have been early, but I got turned around in the east wing. I've never been in this part of the castle."

"That's quite understandable, Mr. Warrick," Severus said. "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better."

"Thank you," Damian nodded. "My back is still a little sore, but other than that, I'm good as new. And, thank you for the books. They were really interesting."

"Have you finished them already?" Severus asked, clearly impressed.

"I'm only halfway through _Rare Potions Ingredients of the Pacific Rim,_ but I finished _Secret Lives of the Pharaohs_ and _Magical Field Manipulation: Theory and Application_."

"That's very impressive, Mr. Warrick," Severus said.

"There's not much to do in the Hospital Wing," Damian said with a shrug, "and I'm a pretty fast reader."

"You'll have to come by for tea sometime so that we can discuss them." Severus got to his feet and walked over to the fireplace, taking the floo pot off the mantle. "I want that game of chess too. Your father was an excellent player; I'm interested to see if the talent is hereditary." Severus held the floo pot down to Damian.

"You knew my father?" he asked as he took a pinch of floo powder.

"He was a few years younger than me at school, but we played chess together once in a while. I knew your uncle Tiberius a little better; we used to hang around together quite a bit."

"Really?" Damian asked. "I live with my uncle Tiberius. He's never mentioned you."

Severus cringed, "Yeah, well we haven't seen each other for a long time."

"Are we all set then?" Harry asked, coming over to grab a pinch of floo powder for himself.

Severus glanced over at him for a second, his expression unreadable. Then he took his own pinch of floo powder and set the pot back on the mantle. "After you," he said, gesturing for Harry to precede him.

Harry shrugged and tossed his floo powder into the fire, he stepped in, said, "Diagon Alley," as clearly as he could manage, and a moment later he stumbled out into the busy marketplace. Damian followed a moment later, and then Severus stepped out elegantly.

"I hate you," Harry muttered, trying to brush the soot off his robes.

"What's that Potter?" Severus asked, looking as immaculate as ever.

The worst part was that Damian looked perfectly unruffled also. It seemed that learning how to use a floo without looking like you'd been swept up in a hurricane and rolled in soot was a skill that you needed to learn at a young age.

"I don't get how you can step out of the floo looking like that," Harry said angrily, gesturing to him from head to foot.

Severus smirked. "Just one of my many skills, Professor Potter," he said, lightly, turning on his heel to sweep up the street- Damian following in his wake.

Harry scowled, rubbing at the soot on his face, and followed after them. Lately, he had found himself more and more being outnumbered by the bleeding Slytherins. He supposed that's what he got for dating one, but _still_. He could feel a scowl settling on his face, and wondered if that's where Severus' perpetual expression came from: spending so much time around the other Slytherins. He wondered how it was that Godric Gryffindor always managed to appear so happy in every portrait of him Harry had ever seen.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Harry asked after a minute of blindly following them.

"We need to go to Gringotts," Severus said. "We need gold from the school vault, unless you plan on purchasing this snake out of pocket."

Harry hadn't really given much thought to that. Despite having grown up poor, the large amount of gold that he'd inherited from his parents meant that he never really had to worry about money, and as a result he hadn't actually given a second thought about paying for the snake himself. He supposed that wouldn't have been the case for anyone else on a teacher's salary, and it made him feel a little guilty. He wasn't sure why. Maybe he had entitlement issues, but he just didn't see why he deserved any of it.

They approached the bank, and Harry had another twinge of guilt. After Harry had committed the second ever theft of Gringotts Wizarding Bank it had taken a lot of convincing of the authorities to get them to continue to do business with him. The goblins didn't care much that the theft had been necessary to save the wizarding world from the evils of Lord Voldemort. They only cared that the security and reputation of their bank had been jeopardized. Needless to say, Harry Potter wasn't exactly their favorite customer these days. He tried not to make eye contact with any of the goblins as they walked through the threshold into the lobby.

"Headmaster Snape," one of the goblins greeted as they stood waiting in the middle of the lobby. "What can we do for you today?"

"I need to get into the Hogwarts vault, as well as my personal savings," Severus replied crisply. "Harry do you need to get into your vault?" he asked.

Harry shook his head and tried not to meet the goblin's eyes when she looked at him speculatively.

The goblin nodded her head, "Very well then, if you'll just follow me sirs."

She took them out of the main lobby and through a side door into one of the carts that took them down into the underground vaults.

The ride was as jarring as usual, and a few minutes later Harry and Damian stood in the center of the Hogwarts vault, looking around in amazement, as Severus marked something down in a ledger and filled a bag with a sizeable amount of gold. Harry was actually astounded by how much gold was in the Hogwarts vault, but not just that, there were other treasures there as well. There were also a lot of everyday objects that wouldn't normally hold any particular value, but no doubt had considerable historical significance: old furniture, papers, and other useless trinkets. There was a large case of books in one corner that Hermione would probably have an orgasm over, but Harry didn't want to think about that.

Severus' vault was pathetically small in general, and especially in comparison to the exorbitant riches of the Hogwarts vault. It made Harry feel bad about letting Severus pay for dinner the week before. Severus carefully counted out a small amount of gold into a separate purse and put it in his pocket. Apart from the very small amount of gold in Severus' vault, there were a few pieces of valuable looking artwork and a set of dishes and silverware that looked equally precious.

They rode the cart back up to the surface in silence, and Harry was secretly glad that he hadn't needed to go to his vault that day. He didn't want to think what his heaps of gold, more than he could ever spend, would seem like in comparison to Severus' menial savings- especially when he hadn't earned his wealth. It was enough of an issue with Ron; he didn't want it to become a problem with Severus as well.

They reached the lobby and stepped out of the cart. Harry stepped out first and led the way out of the building, eager to be away. He could feel the wary eyes of the goblins on his back as he made his leave, but Damian and Severus didn't seem to notice his unease.

"Where were you planning on getting the snake?" Severus asked, once they were out in the sunlight again.

"There's a herpetological sanctuary next to Eeylops; I thought we could try there first," Harry said.

Severus nodded and set off in the proper direction. Harry and Damian followed a few steps behind him.

"Is he always like this?" Damian asked.

"Like what?" Harry asked, thinking of the bat-like way that his robes fluttered around him.

Damian shrugged, "Task oriented."

Harry couldn't imagine that was a phrase that had ever been applied to Severus before, but it was true enough. Severus Snape was a man who liked to get things done without any bullshit. "Yes," Harry answered after a moment, "but it depends on what he's doing."

"Are you two coming?" he asked, stopping in the middle of the street. They had obviously strayed too far behind, and he paused for them to catch up.

That's when it happened. He really should have expected it sooner, he supposed, but honestly it just hadn't crossed his mind.

"Harry? Harry Potter?" a man across the street yelled, hurrying over.

Harry groaned, stepping closer to Severus for at least the illusion of protection, but he put on a polite smile as the man came over and began to shake his hand very energetically.

"Such an honor," he said. "So grateful… Everything you've done… Words can't express."

Severus pulled Harry back and put a hand out to push the man away. "Yes, yes, Mr. Potter appreciates your gratitude, but if you can't even form a proper sentence, he really can't be bothered to attempt to have a conversation with you."

The man looked miffed to say the least. "You're Severus Snape, aren't you?" he said, by his tone he clearly thought that this was a bad thing.

"I am," Severus said, warning in his voice.

The man didn't seem to take notice though, because he gave him a dirty look and turned back to Harry. "Didn't he kill Albus Dumbledore?"

Harry could feel Severus stiffen behind him. "That's right," Harry said, the polite smile gone from his face. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have business to attend to."

"Well, I'll say," the man was saying in an offended tone as they walked away. "Can you believe the nerve of some people?"

Harry and Severus exchanged an annoyed glance. Damian was looking between them for something more in the way of explanation, but they didn't pay him any attention.

"I doubt he'll be the only one today," Harry said in a low tone.

"I don't understand how you can put up with that. Are they always that rude?" Severus asked.

"No, but I usually don't have you around to run P.R." Harry smiled. "Though, I think I might have to employ your services from now on."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You can only be _so_ polite," Harry explained.

They had made it to outside the snake shop now, and Harry gestured for Damian to precede them into the store. Severus followed him, and then Harry stepped through the door. It was like walking into a packed lecture hall ten minutes before the speaker was scheduled to arrive. Harry had to plug his ears to block out the noise. Severus looked at him worriedly, and Harry nodded towards the door as he stepped back out into the street.

"What's wrong?" Severus asked, and Damian stepped back out into the street as well.

"Are you alright, Professor?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, let's try the Magical Menagerie instead. There are too many snakes in there; I can't hear myself think."

"I hadn't thought of that," Severus said.

They walked quickly across the street to the Magical Menagerie, and Harry shot a look down to the end of the street where Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was doing its usual booming business.

"Don't even think about it," Severus said, following Harry's gaze. "Just keep walking, Potter."

Harry turned to him smirking. "I wasn't really even considering it, but now that you mention it…"

"I said no," Severus said, walking faster so that Harry had to hurry to keep up.

There was a cacophony of animal sounds when they walked into the Magical Menagerie, but the chattering of birds, meowing of cats, and squeaking of small mammals was nothing to the assault of walking into the snake shop.

"Headmaster Snape," the witch behind the counter greeted as they walked in, "and I believe it's Professor Potter now, right?"

Harry nodded.

"My niece is in your class, and she assures me that you're the best Defense teacher she's ever had."

"Well I should certainly hope so," Harry could hear Severus mutter under his breath.

Harry just smiled politely and said," Thank you."

"And who is this you have with you?" she looked at Damian and beamed.

"This is our newest addition to Slytherin House, Damian Warrick," Severus introduced.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Warrick," she said. "Now what can I help you gentlemen with today?"

"The Slytherin mascot passed away last weekend, and Mr. Warrick is here to help us pick out a new one," Harry explained.

"I'm sorry to hear about Atropos, but I'm sure that I can help you find a suitable replacement. The snake tanks are back this way." She stepped out from behind the counter and led the way toward the back of the shop.

"Go ahead," Severus said, "I'll wait here," and Harry and Damian followed her back to the snake tanks.

Severus watched the ravens in their cage for a while. They were interesting animals, but not very good as postal birds. He'd been thinking about buying Harry a new owl for a while- even before they'd started dating. Harry had replaced his Firebolt easily enough, but Hedwig had been irreplaceable, and for some reason Severus felt partially responsible for her loss. Now Severus wasn't sure how Harry would react to the gift of a new owl, but maybe he would like a raven. Severus ran his knuckle across the bars of the cage.

"Severus?"

He looked up at the sound of his name to see Remus Lupin standing just inside the door to the shop.

"Lupin," he said, actually somewhat happy to see the man. "What brings you here? Finally decide to get you're puppies at the pet shop like everyone else?"

"I thought I'd pick up some treats for Buckbeak actually," he said with a tight smile, "and I expect that your acerbic wit is a taste I haven't yet acquired."

Severus shrugged. "Where is the other mutt anyway?"

"The ministry," Remus said, stepping away from the door to talk to Severus. "He's trying to arrange to have his badge reinstated as part of his settlement from the ministry for wrongful imprisonment, but he hasn't been having much luck."

"He wants to go back to being an Auror?" Severus was surprised. He was under the impression that Black had only entered into the Auror Academy because it had been what Potter wanted to do. Now that James was dead and Sirius had inherited the Black estate, Severus couldn't really think of any reason Black would want to go back.

"Yes, but even with Kingsley's support he hasn't been having much luck with the Auror office. I'm beginning to think that it might be my fault."

"What do you have to do with it?"

Lupin looked sad. "It can't help his recommendation, being married to a werewolf, especially after all the nasty business with Greyback. Lycanthropes aren't any more popular these days than they were before the war- possibly less so."

"Black has plenty of marks against him, but you're not one of them," Severus said, patting him on the shoulder in what he hoped would be a consoling matter. _Severus Snape didn't really do consoling._

"Thank you, Severus," Remus said. "What are you doing here anyway? Shopping for a new mail bird?"

"No, I'm escorting Harry and one of the students to pick out a new snake for Slytherin." He gestured back to the tanks at the back of the store where Harry and Damian were talking to an adder. Remus glanced over at them, and then gave Severus an odd look. "You two seem to be getting along better."

Severus shrugged again, looking at Harry and trying not to smile. "We understand each other better now. We're finally setting aside old grudges."

Remus gave Severus another odd look. "Charlie Weasley said something along those lines."

Severus' heart started to beat a little faster, but outwardly he didn't reveal anything. "What did Charlie say?"

"Just that you were getting along better, he mentioned that one of the students had been attacked by a dragon and that you were working together to find out how it got into the school." Remus explained. He picked up a dog toy from a bin by the counter and gave it a squeeze; it squeaked, and Severus had to bite back a sarcastic remark. "Is it really true, a dragon got into the school and attacked one of the students?"

"That's him over there," Severus said, gesturing to Damian.

Remus shook his head sadly. "Isn't it ever going to end? Now that he's dead, I thought they would be safe. I thought things would be better."

Severus didn't need to ask who he was talking about.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was watching Damian intently. The boy was holding a baby boa constrictor; he had his eyes shut tight and was murmuring under his breath. The snake started to squirm in his hands.

"_Keep still_," Harry instructed the snake.

"_He's squeezing too tight_."

"_That's awfully hypocritical of you_."

"_I only squeeze things I'm about to eat. If you're hungry for snake, there's a nice muggle restaurant on Tottenham Court Road that serves rattlesnake soup."_

"_You'll fit right into Slytherin,_" Harry assured. "Don't hold him so tight Damian," Harry instructed. "He won't go anywhere."

Damian loosened his grip but didn't open his eyes. He was still trying to get a feel for the snake.

_"So, what's your name then_?" Harry asked.

"_I don't have one._"

"_How can you not have a name_?"

The snake shifted its coils. "_I've never belonged to anyone. Snakes don't use names it's a human affectation_."

"_Would you like to come with me to Hogwarts? Slytherin House has recently lost their mascot, and I'm sure they would be happy to give you a name_."

The snake shifted its coils again, sliding up along Damian's arm. _"Would I stay with you or the young one?"_

_ "Slytherin is one of the four school houses. There will be lots of other children there._" Harry said.

The snake stretched out. "_Will you come to talk to me_?"

"_If you want me to._"

"_Yes._"

Damian opened his eyes then. "This one's a Slytherin alright," he concluded. "He kind of reminds me of the Headmaster."

Harry smiled. "I had the same impression. Is this the one we want then?"

Damian nodded.

"_You win_," Harry told it.

"_What do I win?_"

"_You get to come with us_."

"_Oh joy_," it replied sarcastically.

It really did remind him of Severus.

Harry looked back at Severus as the owner helped Damian put the boa constrictor into a box. He grinned when he saw Severus talking to Remus and walked over to them. He only made it to the other side of the counter though, when a mewling noise caught his attention and he looked down to the basket of kittens in the alcove at the end of the counter. But they weren't regular kittens; they were tiny lion cubs. The cubs were pouncing on each other and rolling around in their basket.

"What are these?" Harry asked as the owner walked behind the counter to tally up their total.

"Those are house lions," she said dismissively.

"Do they stay small?" Harry asked, looking down into the basket. The smallest one was getting his ear chewed on by one of his larger siblings.

"They grow larger than a normal house cat, but they're smaller than most dogs."

"We want one of these too," Harry said, not bothering to clear it with Severus. Harry picked the little one out of the basket and stroked him behind the ear. He began purring immediately. "This one," Harry said, cradling the kitten in the curve of his arm. "We'll need a raven too," Harry said, sweeping around to the front where the raven cage was, "and a badger. Do you sell badgers?"

"No, but I could special order you one," she said, writing it down in a ledger. "Do you want a male or a female?"

"A female," Harry answered quickly, "and we'll need a female raven too."

"What are you doing Harry?" Severus asked, keeping his tone low and inquisitive.

"It doesn't seem fair that Slytherin is the only house to get a mascot, Sev," Harry said, still peering in the raven cage. "Hey Remus."

"Hello Harry," Remus said.

"Do you know anything about ravens?"

"Not really. We always kept owls."

Harry frowned. "You pick one out, Sev. They all look the same to me."

Severus picked the raven that he had been considering for Harry, and the owner put it in a cage for them. Severus paid and arranged to have the badger sent to the castle under his name

"We were just going to go for ice-cream after this. Do you want to come with us?" Harry asked Remus while they waited for the owner to pack up a dozen dead rabbits for Buckbeak.

Remus glanced back at them as he fumbled in his pocket for a couple sickles. "I'll meet you over there."

"Okay," Harry said, "see you in a few minutes."

Harry still had the kitten in his arms as they walked across the street to the ice-cream parlor. It was making the cutest little growling noises as it slept, and Harry knew already that he was going to have a hard time parting with it when they made it back to the castle. Damian had the box with the snake in it clutched in his hand, and Severus held the cage holding the raven aloft as they wove through the group of tables outside the ice-cream parlor. They found an empty spot away from the street, where Harry hoped he would be out of sight. Most of the people he ran into were polite enough, but he didn't want to have a run in with someone like that last wizard- or have to deal with a crowd of sycophants, for that matter.

"Who was that man in the shop, the one who's coming for ice-cream?" Damian asked.

"That's one of my godfathers," Harry said. "His name is Remus Lupin."

"He used to teach Defense at the school," Severus added.

"_I want out of this box_," came a hiss from inside the box in Damian's hands.

"You'd better take that snake out," Harry said. "He won't be happy in that box for long."

Damian opened the box and gently pulled the snake out. It coiled around Damian's hand and worked its way up his forearm.

"You'll need to pick out a name for him," Harry said.

He thought about it for a while. "The last one was called Atropos," Damian said thoughtfully. "Atropos is one of the three fates. The other two are Clotho and Lachesis, but Lachesis sounds kind of feminine, so how about Clotho?"

Harry suggested it to the snake in a low hiss.

"_It makes no difference to me. Clotho will be fine_."

"He agrees," Harry said, and Damian looked pleased.

"What about this one," Severus asked, reaching over to stroke the sleeping lion cub in Harry's arms.

"Abbaraxis," Harry answered without thinking about it. It might be a little odd naming the new Gryffindor mascot after Salazar Slytherin's pet dragon, but he'd been reading Gryffindor's love letters again that morning, and it was the first thing that popped into his head.

Severus gave him an unreadable look, but didn't make an issue of it.

"What about the raven, then?" Harry asked.

Severus glanced at it. "Athena."

"Goddess of wisdom," Damian said. "That seems right for Ravenclaw."

"Yes, but I thought we just came here for a snake, Potter," Severus said, looking at him. "How is it we're going home with a raven and that furball?" He shot a glance at the lion. "Not to mention mail-ordering a badger, who keeps a badger for a pet?"

"It's only fair Severus, if one of the houses is going to have a mascot, then they all should."

Severus snorted. "Saint Potter fighting all the injustice in the world. Does it occur to you how irresponsible teenagers are? Do you really think they'll be capable of caring for them?"

"You can assign the prefects to keep an eye on them," Harry said. "And plenty of the students have pets anyway; I don't see it being a problem. Besides, you didn't seem to worry when it was the Slytherins."

"Salazar Slytherin gave his house the first snake; it's a tradition."

"Well, I'm starting a new one," Harry claimed as Remus walked over.

"A new what, Harry?" Remus asked, sinking into the chair next to him with his sack of dead rabbits.

"A new school tradition with the mascots," Harry explained.

"Well, I think it's a good idea," Remus said, reaching over to stroke Abbaraxis.

"Careful, Lupin," Severus said, smirking. "Cats don't like dogs."

Remus glared at him.

"Let's go get some ice-cream then," Harry said, and they all went up to the counter.

Damian picked out cotton candy flavored ice-cream and Severus made a disgusted face as he chose a more mundane vanilla. Remus got four scoops of rocky road, and Harry chuckled. Remus' chocolate addiction had always been a source of humor amongst the other order members. Harry looked over the selection of ice-cream in tubs behind the counter. He ended up picking out bubble gum, and earned himself a disgusted look from Severus.

"I've got it," Harry said, pulling gold from his pocket, as he remembered the inside of Severus' vault.

Severus allowed him to pay without saying anything, and they returned to their table.

"How do you like teaching so far, Harry?" Remus asked.

Harry shrugged. "Actually, I think it suits me."

"That doesn't surprise me. Your defense club was quite successful, if I remember correctly."

"You had a defense club?" Damian asked. "Why don't we have one anymore?"

"The ministry was putting restrictions on what we could learn. We couldn't even use our wands in class, so we started a defense club so that we could pass our O.W.L.s. It's no longer necessary, unless you don't think I'm doing my job," Harry said.

Damian flushed, "No, sir; you're a very good teacher."

Harry smiled. "Well, thank you."

"And what about you, Mr. Warrick? How do you like your classes?"

"Very much, sir. Defense Against the Dark Arts is my favorite." He flushed again, avoiding Harry's eyes.

"Mr. Warrick is a very promising student," Severus boasted. "He would give an eleven-year-old Hermione Granger a run for her money."

"That is impressive," Remus said approvingly. He'd somehow made it down to his cone already, even though he had an extra two more scoops than everyone else.

"You're going to get brain freeze," Harry warned.

Remus licked the chocolate from his lips and grinned. "You should stop by Grimmauld place tomorrow. I was going to make a roast. Sirius and I would love to have you over for dinner."

Harry felt Severus squeeze his thigh under the table, and Harry spared him a sideways glance. Severus gave a barely discernable shake of his head. "Actually, I have a lot of work to do this weekend, Remus. Maybe some other time. Why don't you and Sirius meet me down in Hogsmede for dinner some day this week," Harry offered, "my treat."

"That would be great," Remus agreed. He was finishing the last couple bites of his cone. "I hate to run out on you like this, but I've really got to get going. I have Sirius' bike, and I told him I'd pick him up at the Ministry. He wants to go to some muggle shop for a new pair of boots." Remus rolled his eyes, getting to his feet.

"You know how to drive a motorcycle?" Harry asked, never suspecting it from his sweater vest wearing ex-professor.

"Of course, who do you think taught Sirius how to drive," Remus said with a smirk. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Warrick."

"Nice meeting you too, sir," Damian said. "I'd shake your hand, but…" Damian held up his hands. One held his ice-cream cone, and Clotho was still wrapped tightly around the other.

"I can do you one better than that," Harry said, smiling. He handed Abbaraxis to Severus, stood, and pulled Remus into a tight hug.

Remus chuckled, "Careful Harry, you're going to crush me." Remus frowned, sniffing at Harry's hair. He shot a look at Severus, reading the expression on his face as he watched him hug Harry. Remus careful schooled his expression as Harry pulled away, replacing the frown with a smile.

"Half of that's for Sirius," Harry said, still grinning.

"I'll see you next week then," Remus said. He gathered his bag of dead rabbits and shot Severus another glance, narrowed eyes calculating. "Severus," he nodded his head curtly and set off up the street.

Severus handed Abbaraxis back to Harry as he sat back down and continued to lick at his ice-cream. Watching his pink tongue sweep across the even pinker ice-cream made Severus want to jump him right then and there. He silently vowed to never bring a student on a date ever again. He had to force his gaze away from Harry. They finished the rest of their ice-cream in silence, Severus' hand resting possessively on Harry's thigh under the table.

"Ready to go, now?" Severus asked when they had all finished and sat back sated in their chairs. _Well, sated for ice-cream anyway_, Severus thought as his gaze wondered back over to Harry, a little dribble of pink ice-cream on his chin. He was looking down at Abbaraxis fondly, the cub purring loudly against Harry's chest.

"We just got here," Harry protested. "I thought we could do some shopping."

"I thought that you had work to do," Severus said, giving Harry's thigh a meaningful squeeze under the table.

Harry took in the gleam in Severus' eye and had to fight back his natural response. "I suppose you're right," he said, turning back to Damian. "Are you ready to head back to the castle, Mr. Warrick?"

He nodded. "Yes, sir, I wanted to go to the library this afternoon."

_Give Hermione a run for her money, indeed._

xXxXxXxXxXx

They flooed home and escorted Damian back to his common room. They had no sooner crossed the threshold when they were met by a seventh year Slytherin prefect; Harry thought he was a McKinnon. He still wore his black armband over his sleeve.

"Has Warrick been getting into trouble, sir?" he asked, obviously believing that had been the case.

"Mr. Warrick was with us in Diagon Alley most of the morning," Harry said. "I asked him to help me pick out a new snake for Slytherin."

McKinnon gave him a disdainful look. "Why would Potter be picking out the new mascot, sir?" he asked Severus.

"It's Professor Potter," Severus admonished, "and, your Head of House requested that he do the honors, as he is the only parselmouth in the school. Unless you can talk to snakes, Mr. McKinnon?"

"No, sir."

"I didn't think so; now help Mr. Warrick get your new mascot situated."

McKinnon took Damian over to the large glass terrarium that lined one wall of the Slytherin common room, and Damian lowered Clotho into the carefully arranged habitat. They had drawn a crowd now, and several students helped to cast heating charms on the smooth round rocks that were scattered around the tank. A small second year girl with long curly black pigtails fished a newborn rat out of a metal box and lowered it down into the tank where Clotho would be able to get at it easily. Harry was grateful that the snake didn't seem to be hungry. As much as he liked snakes, his stomach turned at the idea of Clotho squeezing the helpless rat to death and then swallowing it whole.

"Pst! Potter!" his attention was called away from the children, and he looked over to see Bertram waving to him from his portrait near the fireplace.

"Hello Bertram," Harry said, walking over to his frame. "How do you like it in Slytherin?"

"You have to get me out of here, Potter," he said in a panicked tone. "I'm really in the soup this time."

Harry glanced back at Severus, and received a warning look. As much as Harry was ready to have his old portrait back, after a week of suffering through Dumbledore smiling at him benignly and making overly personal sexual inquiries every time Harry walked through the door, it seemed that Severus wasn't ready to forgive and forget.

"I don't think I can, Bertram," Harry said. "Is it really that bad?"

"I'm outnumbered by Slytherins, sixty to one; what do you think?"

Harry smiled sympathetically. "Why don't you just leave your frame?"

"I would, except that I find myself glued to my seat." Bertram braced his hands against the arms of his chair and tried to stand up, the legs of the chair lifted and hit against the ground, but he didn't go anywhere. "Some of the Slytherin portraits have been conspiring with Greggory against me."

Harry tried not to chuckle at that, but he promised Bertram that he would see what he could do about finding him a better posting before he left with Severus.

"It seems that the Slytherins don't like you any better than the Gryffindors like me," Severus observed as they walked up the stairs and out of the dungeons.

"At least I can think of one Slytherin that likes me."

"Oh, I can think of at least one Gryffindor that thinks I'm pretty incredible," Severus said with a smirk.

"So help me Severus, if you say Charlie Weasley, I will hex you into next week," Harry threatened, scowling.

"That expression really doesn't suit your face," he said mildly, "and no, I was talking about you actually."

"Oh," the scowl was replaced with a goofy smile.

They dropped the raven off in Flitwick's office, and went up to Gryffindor tower. Harry paused outside the portrait of the fat lady as she gave him a disapproving look and said a curt, "Headmaster," before letting them in.

"What's her problem?" Harry asked, glancing back over his shoulder as they stepped into the common room.

"I suspect that she has been part of the Hogwarts rumor mill for a couple of centuries by now, and she's been aware of certain new developments in the life of one of Gryffindor's most distinguished alumni."

It took Harry a moment to sort out exactly what Severus meant, and then he groaned. "She knows."

"Yes, Potter, that's what I said," Severus said, looking around at the Gryffindor common room.

Harry glanced around too and found a first year standing off to the side, shooting him and Severus frightened furtive glances alternately. "Mr. Wallace," Harry said, waving the boy over. "I need to talk to Ginny Weasley."

The boy just stood there, looking back and forth between them. But, there was a flash of red hair in one of the comfy chairs by the fireplace where Ginny had been slouched down reading a book. "Hey Harry, what's up?" she asked, setting her book down and walking over.

"I really think it should be Professor Potter when we're at school, Ms. Weasley," Severus admonished.

Ginny gave him a look that clearly said, _yeah, whatever_, and turned back to Harry. "Oh, he's so cute," she said, suddenly seeing Abbaraxis in Harry's arms and reaching out to pick him up.

"He's the new Gryffindor mascot," Harry said, reluctantly handing him over.

"Oh, brilliant," Ginny said eagerly, "What's his name?"

"Abbaraxis," Harry said, reaching out to scratch him behind the ears.

"I'm never going to remember that," Ginny said. She stripped off her bracelet, waved her wand over it, and transfigured it into a leather collar with a little silver tag hanging from it. "What was the name again?"

"Abbaraxis," Harry repeated.

Ginny waved her wand again and _Abaraxis_ appeared on the nametag.

"Two B's," Harry corrected, and Ginny waved her wand again to fix it.

"That's a neat bit of transfiguration, Ms. Weasley," Severus complimented.

"Thanks, Snape," she said, looking up into his eyes with a smirk, as if challenging him to correct her on her use of honorifics.

He bit back his comment, nodding curtly.

Harry took a small parcel from his pocket and waved his wand over it to enlarge it back to its normal size. "There's food and a cat bed and stuff in there. You're head girl, so I'm putting you in charge of taking care of him, but you can make up a duty roster or something if you want."

"Okay, cool," Ginny said. She was beginning to draw her own crowd, and she handed the cat stuff off to one of the other seventh year girls.

"Alright, I'll see you in class tomorrow," Harry said, and he and Severus headed for the door.

"That was quick," Severus said when they were back in the hall. "I thought you would want to stay and speak with Ms. Weasley for a while.

"Oh, yeah, that's exactly where I want to be: in a room with my ex-girlfriend and my male lover," Harry said derisively. "Besides, I've been waiting all afternoon to get you alone on a soft surface."

"Soft?" Severus asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Or hard," Harry said with a boyish shrug of his shoulders. "Just so long as it's private and nearby."

"I think it would be best if we made it to your quarters."

"More practical," Harry allowed, "but definitely not better."

xXxXxXxXxXx

When they finally made it back to Harry's quarters, starting to undress each other already as they climbed in through the portrait hole, Severus wished that he'd just taken Harry into the nearest empty classroom, warded the door, and fucked him against one of the desks. This wasn't because of the long walk back to their hallway: anticipation could be a good thing. No, it was because Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were there waiting for them.

Remus was sitting on the sofa, and Black stood stock still in front of the fireplace looking at them in shock.

"Er, hi guys," Harry said stupidly at seeing them there and pulled his arm back into his t-shirt. "What're you doing here?"

Sirius was across the room with his wand pressed under Severus' jaw in an instant.

"Sirius, no!" Remus yelled, jumping up from the couch, but Harry got there first.

"Expelliarmus," Harry yelled, and grabbed his wand as Sirius was shoved away from Severus by a push of magical energy. He quickly stepped between the two men and glared at Sirius, offering his godfather's wand back. "I'm not going to allow that, Sirius. If you pull your wand on Severus again, I'll knock you on your arse next time." Sirius grabbed his wand back and glared over Harry's shoulder at Severus. "Sit down and we can talk about this."

Sirius did as Harry said and sat down on the sofa. Remus gave Harry a long look, taking in Severus' unbuttoned collar and also sat down. Sirius still hadn't said anything, but continued to glare at Severus as if doing so would make the man spontaneously combust.

"Sit down, Severus," Harry said in a low tone that compelled him to obey. Severus took a seat in one of the wing-backed armchairs by the fireplace, and Harry came to stand behind it, putting one hand on Severus' shoulder.

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," Harry began tentatively. He still had his wand held in his hand, and kept his eyes focused warily on Sirius. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Actually," Remus said, "this is my fault. I smelled Severus on you at the ice-cream parlor." He smiled apologetically. "I told Sirius so that we could talk to you about it, _like adults_," he said, looking pointedly at Sirius. He looked over at Severus then. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come confront you like this, or to…" Remus couldn't think of a polite way of saying _interrupt you when you're about to fuck my godson_.

"That's alright, Remus," Severus said, not thinking that it was alright at all, but it was going to come out sooner or later, so they might as well deal with all of this now.

"Sirius?" Harry asked, trying to get his godfather to meet his eyes.

"Harry, I don't know…" Sirius was frowning and looking down at his new muggle boots. "How could you do this? What would your parents say?"

"My dad probably wouldn't be too happy, but I'm not sure my mother would care as long as I'm happy- as long as we're happy, both of us." Harry squeezed Severus' shoulder.

"You're happy," Sirius sneered, "with Snivellus? How can you even stand letting that greasy hook-nosed bastard touch you? He's twice your age, Harry. That's disgusting, and why haven't you even told us you were gay."

Harry had to put a little pressure on Severus shoulder to convince him to stay in his chair through this little speech, and Harry answered Sirius as calmly and truthfully as he could.

"I am happy, and I'm not blind Sirius. I know what Severus looks like, and maybe I have unconventional tastes, but I happen to find him very attractive. That doesn't even matter, though. I'm with him because he's the only one who really understands me for who I am and what I've been through. I'm an adult now, Sirius, and I can date whoever I want. And, the reason I never told you that I was gay is because if I told you, you would've started asking me who I fancied and the answer would have been Severus Snape. The truth is, I knew that you would react like this, and I wanted to put it off as long as possible."

"I can't even begin to understand that, Harry," Sirius said, burying his head in his hands.

"It doesn't matter if you understand it or not," Harry said firmly. "I love him, Sirius, so nothing else really matters."

Sirius sighed. Remus had an arm wrapped around him now, and he shrugged it off and stood up. Harry thought he was going to start yelling, but he just stood there quietly for a second, looking sad, and then he said in a soft voice. "That's almost the exact thing I said to my father the day that he disowned me. I would never do that to you, Harry, but I'm not okay with this. I can't be okay with this." He shook his head, walking towards the fire, and grabbed a fistful of floo powder. "Are you coming, Moony?" he asked, tossing the floo powder into the flames.

"I'll follow you in a minute," he said.

Sirius just nodded and stepped into the fire. Harry could barely hear him say, "Grimmauld Place," and he was gone.

Remus strode across the room then and took Harry into his arms, hugging him tightly. "I'm really sorry, Harry. I guess I shouldn't have told him. I just thought…." Remus shook his head. "I don't know what I thought. If you love each other and you really are happy, then you have my blessing. I just wasn't sure what the situation was. Maybe I should have asked before I told Sirius… Look, I'll talk to him. Eventually he'll decide that he loves you enough to let it go, but he's going to need a while to get used to the idea." He took a step toward the fire. "I really am sorry. Don't let this ruin your weekend." He reached out and patted Severus' hand with his own. "Take care of him."

"Haven't I always?" Severus said, almost sounding bitter.

Remus nodded then, and stepped into the fire after his husband.

Harry let out a long sigh once the flames had turned back to their normal color. "Well, that was…" but whatever it was, Harry must have expected Severus to fill in the blank, because he never said.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Severus asked, pulling him down to sit partially on his lap, and wrapping his arms around him.

Harry took a shuddering breath. "I think so," he said, "but that didn't exactly go well."

"What would you have expected? It could have gone a lot worse."

"Yeah, I guess there was quite a lot less yelling than I would have anticipated," Harry admitted. "You didn't say anything."

"I thought it would be best if I didn't. Black wasn't likely to have been interested in anything I had to say, anyway. It only would have made things worse."

Harry nodded, wrapping his arms around Severus and pressing his face against the older man's chest. "Damn, heightened werewolf sense of smell."

"Maybe we should have foregone the shag against my desk this morning," Severus admitted, "but I just finally got Dumbledore out of my office, and I wanted to celebrate." That earned him an amused snort from Harry, and Severus smiled. He ran his hand through Harry's tousled black hair and pushed him away from his chest. "I'm thinking that a nice hot bath would do us both a lot of good right about now," he said.

Harry let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "I think you're right."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: Well, that was pretty close to a week.

I had quite a bit of fun writing that last challenge thing, and I kind of want to do another one, so here's a riddle.

We are very little creatures; all of us have different features. One of us in glass is set; one of us you'll find in jet. Another you may see in tin, and a fourth is boxed within. If the fifth you should pursue, it can never fly from you. What are we?

The first person to review or send me a PM with the correct answer wins another oneshot, whatever length I deem appropriate, of the pairing or general theme of their choice. It doesn't have to be Harry Potter, just something I'm vaguely familiar with.


	15. Baby Hold On

Author's Note: The answer to the riddle from last chapter was "vowels: A,E,I,O,U." Moonimp52 was the first to answer correctly and requested another snarry fic. It's called You Can't Always Get What you Want, doesn't tie in with this story at all, but it's not too bad, and it's pretty long. I think that Severus comes off a little more in character. Anyway, here's the link: .net/s/5693089/1/

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by Eddie Money. (A/N: for the most part the songs in these chapter titles don't tie into the chapter at all. I just scroll through my media library and pick out something that sounds vaguely appropriate, because I'm really bad with titles. I did listen to Give Me Life a few times before I chose it for the story title though, to make sure it set the right mood. I don't know if it does or not.)

Give Me Life

Chapter Fifteen

Baby Hold On

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Have you heard anything from Remus yet?" Severus asked, coming into the sitting room late Sunday afternoon.

Harry shook his head. He'd been lethargic all afternoon. They had soaked in the tub for hours the night before. Severus had needed to charm the water warm again three times, but he had lain there and held Harry in silence while they both took time to think things through. When they finally dried off and crawled into bed, they were both pruney from the water.

First thing the next morning, Harry had floo called over to Grimmauld place. He'd spoken to Kreecher, but Remus was out running errands, and Sirius refused to speak to him. This had only worsened Harry's mood, and he refused to let Severus touch him. He'd spent the rest of the afternoon moping around his quarters.

It was really starting to get on Severus' nerves, but he didn't know what to do or say to make it better. Every time he tried, Harry just snapped at him, and it took all of his self-control not to snap back with some caustic remark. He was desperately worried that, despite his professions of love, Harry would rather leave him than suffer his godfather's disappointment.

He was about to go to Grimmauld Place and have a discussion with the mutt himself when Remus Lupin stepped out of the fireplace.

Harry looked up at him hopefully, but Remus' expression didn't do much to bolster that hope.

"What did he say?" Harry asked, getting to his feet.

"I've gotten him to agree to the four of us having dinner tonight. He wants to understand, Harry, but he's really having a hard time with this." Remus put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "He is trying. With enough time, he'll get there, but there's a lot of hate to overcome. Working together is one thing, but seeing your greatest childhood enemy dating your godson is something else entirely. It's going to take him a while to get used to the idea. He does love you though. We both do. Nothing is going to change that, and we don't want to lose you over this; we won't let that happen. Do you understand that?"

Harry sniffled and nodded, and Severus noticed for the first time that Harry had been crying. _ Well, of course he would be._ His godparents were the only real ties to his parents that he had left, and the last thing he would want would be to lose them. And there was no reason that he should- not for Severus' sake. If it came to that, Severus would tell Harry to choose his family. At this realization, Severus felt a heavy weight settle at the bottom of his stomach, but that didn't shake his resolve any. He had sworn to protect Harry, and he would- even from himself.

"Sit down. Remus," Severus said, finally- very grateful that the werewolf was on their side. "Can I get you a cup of tea?"

"Yes, please," Remus answered, sitting down on the sofa.

"Milk and honey, right?"

"Just a splash of milk," Remus said, and Severus walked away into the kitchen to prepare the tea and give Harry and Remus a moment alone.

As soon as he was gone, Remus focused all of his attention on Harry, taking in every detail. Harry still hadn't sat down. He was standing in front of Remus , before the fireplace, looking dazed; it was clear by his red eyes and ruddy cheeks that he had been crying.

Remus leaned forward and asked Harry in a low whisper, "How serious are you about this thing with Severus?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, and the look on his face, betrayal, made Remus feel horrible about even pursuing this line of questioning, but he pressed on- telling himself that it was the right thing to do.

"You have my full support in whatever you decide, but you're a young man, Harry, and Severus, well… Severus isn't. Which is perfectly fine," Remus was quick to reassure when Harry's look of betrayal deepened, "but only if you're serious. I'm speaking from experience here, Harry. Sirius and I are having a late start of things. He spent almost two-thirds of our marriage in prison, and we've spent the rest of it fighting a war. In lots of ways, I feel like I'm just getting to know him again. Now we're thinking of starting a family, but, like Sirius said, forty is a bit long in the tooth to be chasing after puppies. Severus would be very much in the same boat. Do you want to get married and have children? I know it seems a little early in the game to be thinking about those kinds of things, Harry, but, I assure you, it's getting late in the game for Severus. If you are serious about making your relationship with Severus permanent some time down the road, if you do want to start a family, you'll have to start soon. If you're not ready to do that, if this is just about the sex- and regardless of what Sirius says, I'm sure the sex is very good, Severus is a very particular man and I can't see him doing anything half-way," Remus pinched the bridge of his nose, "if this is just about the sex, maybe you shouldn't be wasting his time. So, if you're not serious about this thing with Severus, if you don't see yourselves together ten or twenty years down the road, then you really have to ask yourself if it's worth alienating your friends and family."

Harry was nodding thoughtfully once Remus had spoken his piece, and he sank down onto the sofa next to his godfather." I think it's too early to tell if it's going to be permanent or not, but I think that I want it to be, if that counts for anything."

Remus slung an arm around Harry's shoulders and patted him heavily. "That's good enough to be getting on with, Harry."

Severus came back into the sitting room then with a tea tray. He handed cups to Remus and Harry and sat down in the armchair. Harry smiled at him. It was a sad smile, but since it was the first one he had seen since Sirius and Remus had arrived yesterday, he decided to take what he could get and forced out a return smile.

"The one thing I've never insulted is your intelligence, Remus, but what exactly do you think will be accomplished by us having dinner together?"

"I'm hoping that if we meet in a public place, Sirius will have the good sense not to kill you while surrounded by witnesses."

"Because he was so mindful of witnesses the last time he tried to kill someone," Severus responded.

"Or the time after that," Harry added, smiling a real smile.

"Point," Remus allowed. "I'll have to give him a good warning before we leave. I'm not going to wait through another twelve year stint in Azkaban. Besides, after that little display last night, I don't doubt that you could knock him on his arse if he tried, Harry."

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question, Remus?" Severus asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"I guess it depends on what it is."

Severus took that as permission. "Why didn't you ask the court to grant you a divorce when Sirius was sent to prison?"

Remus fingered his wedding band while he considered the answer. "I guess that deep down I knew that he never could have done what they were accusing him of." Severus snorted at that. "Even if he had, then he wasn't the man that I married anymore, so divorcing him wouldn't have meant anything. But, I would have thought that the most basic reason would have been obvious."

Severus shook his head.

"Werewolves mate for life. It's a strong magical bond that cannot be broken by a simple divorce, and Sirius is bonded to me as strongly as I am bonded to him. Neither one of us could ever have feelings for another person. It would be easier to drain the sea with a paper cup."

"I know about the bond, but I didn't know it was so strong," Severus said. "So you've never had feelings for another man, ever?"

Remus flushed at this. "We performed the mating ritual on our wedding night, so not since then. I am able to appreciate other men aesthetically, but it's a bit like looking at a beautiful woman; I can see that he's attractive, but there's no physical response. Other werewolves I've spoken with have reported similar effects to different degrees."

"That has to suck," Harry said; he couldn't imagine going twelve years without sex.

"It has its compensations," Remus said, and when Harry and Severus continued to stare at him expectantly he was forced to explain further. "While I may not have a physical reaction to other men, my reaction to my mate is very intense." Remus flushed even darker. "We have quite an active sex life, especially around the full moon."

Harry turned white at this information.

"Now, if your curiosity has been satisfied, can we get back on topic?" Remus asked. "We need to decide on a course of action for tonight."

"This is your show," Severus said, "surely, you must have a plan."

"I was just hoping that if we had dinner together we could discuss this like adults."

"The only problem with that is that Black has never and will never be an adult," Severus said.

"And, you won't set aside your hatred long enough to give him a fair chance anyway," Harry added.

"We need to find some common ground on this," Remus said.

"I assure you," Severus sneered. "Sirius Black and I hold no common ground."

"What about me?" Harry asked.

"What about you, Potter?"

"You love me, don't you?" Harry asked, his voice was pitched light, but his tone suggested at his need for reassurance.

"Of course, but I'd hardly count that as common ground."

"Sirius loves me too," Harry said.

"I very much doubt it's in the same manner."

"Well, no, but…"

"Actually, Harry might have something there," Remus put in. "If we could convince Sirius that you love Harry, truly, that would go a long way toward getting him to accept this," Remus gestured between Harry and Severus.

"I hardly see how making Sirius believe that I love Harry would make him _more_ inclined to accept our relationship and _less _likely to want to murder me," Severus said.

"That's where that Gryffindor sentimentality you Slytherins seem to hate so much can be used to your advantage. If there's one thing that Sirius truly believes in it's love," Remus gave a reluctant smile, "well, that and the moral deficit of disco fans, but Sirius has over a decade of rock history to catch up on."

Severus actually laughed at this, but Harry wasn't quite sure what was so funny. "Okay, so musically Black is stuck in the glittering dark ages of glam rock, he's emotionally stunted, and overly sentimental. How am I supposed to convince him that I love Harry? Somehow I doubt that snogging Harry at the dining table is going to convince him."

"He has to believe that you care about Harry, that you want what's in Harry's best interests. If you really do, then he'll be able to tell, if you can just remain civil long enough for him to see it."

Severus nodded- thinking.

"I'll see you at The Three Broomsticks tonight," Remus said. He pulled Harry into a tight hug, patted Severus on the shoulder, and stepped into the floo.

Severus remained silent for a long time after Remus had left. If Remus knew his husband as well as he said that he did, then Sirius just needed to see them together, and he would believe that he and Harry loved each other, and once Sirius realized that, he would accept their relationship. Somehow, Severus didn't think it would be that easy, even if he could curb his tongue long enough to get through dinner.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus and Harry stood on the street outside the Three Broomsticks, looking in the window. Sirius and Remus were already sitting in one of the booths near the back.

"Are you ready for this?" Harry asked.

Severus tilted his head to give Harry a mocking roll of his eyes.

"Okay, so I'm being melodramatic, but seriously?"

Severus nodded, "I'm ready, are you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but well," he gestured to the door, "here we are."

"Here we are," Severus agreed, and he led the way through the door.

Harry paused for just a moment on the sidewalk and then followed Severus in.

They walked back to Sirius and Remus' table. Harry felt like he was walking to his own execution, but he also felt oddly hopeful, like the call that would free him would be on its way any moment. And, Severus was there. Severus was right there next to him; Harry could feel his body heat. Remus smiled at him, and he slid into the booth, sitting across from Sirius, and Severus sat down next to him.

The weight of Severus' hand on his thigh was an almost automatic reassurance as the man sat down, adjusting his robes.

"Hey, Sirius," Harry said, meeting his godfather's eyes. "I'm glad you agreed to come."

Sirius nodded. "Remus convinced me to try to understand. I've been thinking, and I decided that the best thing for everyone would be to come to some sort of an arrangement about this whole thing. I don't want you out of my life, but I do not want _him _in it." He pointed to Severus, keeping his eyes fixed on Harry. He still hadn't spared Severus a single glance since they'd sat down.

Harry took a deep breath before responding, but the barmaid came over to get their order before he could say anything. They all ordered drinks, firewhiskey for Sirius, scotch for Harry and Severus, and a brandy for Remus. They didn't order food; it seemed that no one was quite ready to commit to dinner just yet.

They fell silent again while they waited for their drinks to arrive, and Harry downed half his glass of scotch before he was ready to try again.

"Sirius, if I'm in your life, then Severus is too," Harry said. "We're a package deal." Harry felt Severus squeeze his thigh.

Now Sirius looked at Severus, eyes narrowed. "What are you getting out of this, Snape? Do you get some kind of sick joy out of fucking James Potter's son?"

Severus' hand clenched tightly enough on Harry's leg to hurt, and Harry let out a startled gasp. Severus immediately let go, and Harry wished that he would have kept his mouth closed; the loss of Severus' hand left a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What are you implying, Black?" Severus ground out.

"I wasn't implying anything," Sirius said. "I'm stating it openly."

"You're the one that keeps getting Harry confused for his father, not me," Severus said. "Rest assured; I know exactly who I'm fucking."

Harry put his hand on Severus' thigh this time, squeezing lightly.

"Maybe an arrangement is what we need, Sirius," Harry said, "but Severus is going to be part of that arrangement too."

"What did you have in mind, Harry?" Remus asked.

"We've all worked together for the Order," Harry prefaced. "There have been some rough spots here and there, but you made it through without killing each other. Remus, you and Severus even managed a kind of begrudging friendship. I'm just asking that you try to stand each other, Sirius. You don't have to like him, you don't even have to acknowledge him, but you do have to allow his presence in my life, and it would work better if you didn't pick a fight every time you see him."

"I can't agree to that," Sirius said.

"It's really not that different from how things have been lately," Remus said.

"Except that Snivellus is sleeping with Harry. That greasy disgusting Death Eater is _fucking_ our godson." Sirius hit his fist against the table.

Remus reached out and put a hand over Sirius' on the table. "We need to do what's best for Harry."

"I'm trying," Sirius said in a harsh whisper. It sounded like he was fighting back tears. "I promised him, Remus. I promised that if anything happened to James, I would protect Harry. And, everything was so crazy back then…" He was staring straight at Remus now, like Harry and Severus weren't even there. "I should have trusted you, back then, Remmie. I was just so scared. Lilly and James went into hiding, and all I wanted to do was to make sure that they were safe. I wanted to protect Harry. It's all my fault. If I had only trusted you, then I would have been their secret keeper, and Peter wouldn't have been able to…" he trailed off. "I was just worried that I wouldn't have been able to keep it from you. If you had asked me, then I'm not sure I would have been able to keep it from you. I was so worried that I was the weak link. Then Lily and James were dead, and all I could think of was vengeance. I handed Harry over to Hagrid and I went off after him. I just wanted to see Peter dead, and nothing else mattered anymore. I betrayed you, Rem, and I broke my promise. I promised James that I would protect Harry, and when he needed me the most, I failed him. What would James say if I failed again?"

In that moment Severus Snape suddenly understood Sirius Black. With that admission, Sirius had done more to win Severus over than he could have ever imagined.

"I made the same promise," Severus said. "I've spent the last seven years protecting Harry, and if I thought for one moment that I could step back from all of this without hurting him, I would. You're important to him, Sirius." It almost hurt him to use the man's first name, but he forced it out. "I love Harry as much as I've ever loved anyone, but I would gladly suffer through the pain of his loss, if I thought he would be happier without me."

Sirius looked at Severus and then at Harry. Harry was sitting back in the booth in shock, at some point he had removed his hand from Severus' leg. Now he reached over to take Severus' hand in his own on top of the table.

"I wouldn't be happier without you," Harry said in a whisper.

"I know," Severus said, "but you're not happy without _him_ either; that's why I'm here."

Sirius let out a long sigh, looking between the two of them. He downed what was left of his firewhiskey. "Maybe Harry's right; maybe we should all just try to get along." Sirius sighed again, "I can't believe I'm even saying this, but maybe Harry could do a lot worse than you, Snape. At least you want what's best for him."

Remus grinned, pulled Sirius into a hug, and kissed him on the temple.

"Thank you," Harry said. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Alright, fine," Sirius said, pushing back from his husband. "Can we just order dinner now?"

They called the barmaid over and ordered their food. "And another round," Sirius called as she turned to leave. "I need a good drink right about now," he added once she was away.

Harry passed Sirius what was left of his scotch- about half a glass. Sirius nodded and downed it, pushed his hair back from his face, and slung an arm around Remus.

"Well, now that we're all one big happy family," Sirius said. "I guess Remus and I have an announcement to make."

Remus smiled. "We were hoping that you would still be willing to brew the potion, Severus."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "And which one of you has decided to take it?"

"I have," Remus said.

"In that case, congratulations are in order." Severus said, just as their drinks arrived. He held up his glass in a toast, and tapped his glass against Remus'. Harry did the same with Sirius. "I can brew the potion tomorrow if you like, but you'll have to wait until after the next full moon to take it, and I suggest that you let me brew your wolfsbane potion throughout the pregnancy. That swill that the ministry issues isn't nearly as effective, and you'll need it to protect the baby."

"Thank you," Remus said, setting his glass down. "I'm not sure that I would have felt comfortable going through with this if it had been anyone else brewing the potion. No matter what else anyone says, you're very talented."

"Thank you," Severus said. He was taken aback by the turn this conversation had taken, but he wasn't about to complain. "You'll need a physical prior to taking the potion, also. I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey would be willing to see you if you don't want to go to St. Mungo's."

Remus cringed at the very thought; he'd spent too many transformations locked in the metal holding sells to even walk through the doors of that building without a sense of panic. "Yes, I would prefer Poppy to do it."

Sirius was still looking at Harry, and Harry felt like a bug under a microscope.

"I'm really happy for you," Harry said, while Severus and Remus were busy hashing out the details of the potion.

"Thank you," Sirius said, "I wish I could say the same. " He raised a hand when Harry opened his mouth to protest. "Really, I do. It would make everything so much easier. I don't mean to add any extra stress to your life. I want you to be happy, but I'm really having a hard time with this. I just don't understand how something like this could even happen."

"Very gradually."

Their food arrived, and they ate in silence: mostly trying to avoid each other's eyes. By the time they finished their dinner, the silence had given way to more casual polite conversation.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you since you started teaching," Sirius said. "How do you like it?"

"I like it a lot actually," Harry answered. "Assuming I can make it through the year intact, I think I would like to teach for a while."

"I think that particular curse was broken when Voldemort died," Severus said, "and the post is yours for as long as you want it."

"I'm not so sure about that," Harry said. "I've been thinking about the dragon attack, and I think it might have to do with some residual dark magic. It just seems too much like every other year of my whole life. I'm starting to feel like this could be my fault. I am the common factor here. Maybe I never should have come back to the school."

"This isn't your fault," Severus said. "Your mere presence doesn't cause bad things to happen, but I won't deny that you might factor into this."

"You think someone might be targeting Harry?" Sirius asked.

"No, there's nothing to indicate that," Severus was quick to clarify, "but Harry does have a point. This kind of thing does seem to happen around him quite frequently."

"It's not like I go out looking for trouble," Harry protested.

Severus looked at him doubtfully.

"Oh, come on," Harry objected. "I'm born under some stupid prophesy, so a mad evil wizard comes and kills my parents, and I end up with this huge fucking plate of destiny staring in my face- fighting for my life every goddamn term. How is any of that my fault?"

"So you just attract trouble, then?"

"Certainly seems that way."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry had paid for dinner and hugged Remus and Sirius goodbye. Severus gave Remus a manly pat on the back and nodded curtly to Sirius. Harry finally let the relief sink in as his godparents disapparated and he and Severus headed back to the castle.

"That went better than I would have hoped. Nobody got hexed and there were hardly any insults at all," Harry said once they'd made it up the road a bit.

"I have to admit that your godfather was on his best behavior, hardly manners befitting a baboon- but still, an improvement."

"That's not fair. I thought he reacted pretty well, under the circumstances." Harry slipped his arm through Severus'. "You did too. I'm really proud of you."

"Proud of me?"

"Yes, you could have made things so much worse if you'd risen to Sirius' bait. I'm amazed that you kept your cool as well as you did."

"I've had ample practice. You might recall that I am in fact a spy. It's a rather valuable ability to have when dealing with lunatics; and I'm not referring solely to the dark lord."

"You're not a spy anymore," Harry pointed out.

"I expect that there are certain mantles that you can't shake no matter how long you are out of practice. I doubt I will ever stop being a spy even if I never again use that particular skill set."

"Either way, I'm glad that you didn't kill Sirius to death, even if he occasionally deserves it."

"Truer words, Potter," Severus sighed. "Truthfully, I'm glad that we've managed to get that rather unpleasant conversation over with. It's a relief not to have its imminence hanging over our heads. Now we can continue our relationship openly."

"I'm not sure about that," Harry said. "I mean, my family and most of the staff knows, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the world needs to know."

"I mean simply that we can now proceed with the usual amount of discretion. You don't suppose that any of the other couples on staff go about performing sex acts on the head table or flaunting their proclivities in front of the students."

"There are other couples on staff?" Harry asked, automatically flipping through a mental staff directory trying to come up with likely pairs.

"A few, but that's not relevant. Anyway, that's my point; you have no idea, and you work with them. Just because two people are in a relationship doesn't mean that they need to pronounce it to the entire world. We are now at that juncture in our relationship where it is necessary to be discreet but not entirely secretive."

"Oh," Harry said, "yes, I suppose that's true. Sweet!"

Harry leaned over and gave Severus a kiss on the cheek.

"However," Severus said, smirking, "There is still the Daily Prophet to consider, so don't get too cavalier."

"Fuck it! I don't care anymore!" Harry grabbed Severus by the front of the robes and pushed him against the nearest wall, plundering the man's mouth with practiced efficiency.

"Didn't you just say that the rest of the world didn't need to know about our relationship?"

Harry looked around, smiling. "It's just you me and the bricks, Snape."

"And yet, given our previous experience with unwitting voyeurism, perhaps this would be better suited to the confines of the castle. At least then, anyone likely to walk in on us has already looked their fill."

Harry snorted. "Prude," he accused.

"Ah yes, fucking former students over my desk does indeed seem rather puritan of me."

"Was that an offer?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps."

"In that case, I think you're absolutely right." Harry stepped back to let Severus away from the wall.

"If only it had always been this easy to get you to agree with me," Severus said, straightening his robes and trying not to notice the tightness in his trousers.

"Maybe you should have tried bribing me with sex sooner," Harry suggested. "All these years that you could have had a pliant Potter under your thumb and you've wasted them with your prudish behavior."

"No offence meant here, Harry, but, regardless of how long you've been holding a torch for me, I assure you that I didn't find you even remotely sexually appealing until just last year- at which point, a pliant Potter wasn't really required of the situation."

"Not even a little," Harry asked, pouting.

"Well, maybe once," Severus allowed, and Harry's face lit up, "but there were extenuating circumstances."

"Such as," Harry prodded.

"You were riding a broomstick and being chased by a dragon at the time."

"Is that what it takes then? Maybe I should notify Damian Warrick."

"Don't be disgusting," Severus said, wrinkling his nose. "Though, incidentally, Damian's uncle Tiberius was quite a looker once upon a time."

"A looker?" Harry asked sardonically. "Who even says things like that? You really are old."

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Potter."

"So did you sleep with him?" Harry asked.

"Hardly," Severus snorted. "I've never been much to look at, Harry. I still can't imagine what you see in me."

"It's less about looks and more about attitude," Harry answered truthfully. "You can be a right sexy bastard when you want to, and I have grown rather fond of the nose." Harry reached over to run a finger across the bridge of it as they paused outside the school gates. "Plus there's the voice, and the hands, the deep penetrating stare, and the way that your mouth quirks up on the edge when you're amused by someone else's stupidity." Harry leaned over and kissed the corner of Severus' mouth.

"Well, it's a good thing that I spend so much time around you then; that should make my mouth nearly irresistible."

"Did I mention the sarcasm," Harry added. "Really though, you never got any action back at school?"

"I didn't say that," Severus said, pulling the gates open, and adding extra wards behind them after they walked through. "And, I presently seem to be getting plenty of _action_ at school. I simply said that I never slept with Tiberius Warrick. I did however give him a hand job in the prefects' bathroom one time. He _was_ the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team after all."

"You slut," Harry said, playfully knocking into Severus' side.

"I thought I was a prude."

"That was before I heard about you getting all hot and heavy with Quidditch players."

"Just the one."

Harry cleared his throat significantly.

"Forgive me your great Potterness; make that two."

Harry grinned. "So you have a thing for boys on broomsticks then, do you."

"I recall a rather sleepless night after the Order barbeque this summer."

"I didn't sleep particularly well that night myself," Harry admitted.

"I find that very unlikely," Severus said. "I'm surprised that you even made it up your front steps without passing out."

"Yeah, well I wasn't nearly as drunk as I was pretending."

They were at the front entrance to the castle now, and Severus held the door open for Harry as they slipped in through the great hall toward the stairwell that led to their quarters. The castle was eerily quiet this late at night. As much as Harry had always liked to walk around the castle at night when no one was around, he had always felt much more secure under his invisibility cloak.

"This is kind of ironic."

"What's that?" Severus asked.

"Well, normally when I'm out sneaking around the castle this late at night, I'm worried about you catching me."

"Never go out looking for trouble, my arse," Severus muttered.

"Taking a walk helps me think," Harry said.

"In that case, maybe I should have encouraged it when I caught you instead of assigning detention."

"You didn't catch me that often," Harry said.

"Again, I find the amount of mischief that you managed to get away with staggering. I find it hard to believe that none of the other teachers were turning a blind eye to your shenanigans"

"My shenanigans?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "No, I doubt that. It does help to have a precise location of every teacher in the school and the ability to become invisible."

"And yet you still did manage to get caught occasionally. Maybe I have been overestimating your intelligence after all."

"Or maybe I just wanted to get caught," Harry said.

Severus grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him in for a quick kiss, releasing him way before Harry was satisfied.

"I thought that you wanted to wait until we were behind closed doors; you were going to fuck me over your desk." Harry said.

"Well, hurry up then, Potter," Severus said, and started walking down the hall toward their quarters.

Harry followed along in the wake of his billowing robes like an obedient puppy, all but running to catch up as they reached the gargoyle. He pulled Severus back in for a kiss as they rode the moving staircase to Severus' office.

Severus pulled off Harry's shirt and latched onto his neck. He curled an arm around Harry's lower back and pulled him against his chest.

"You did say over the desk right?" Harry asked in a whisper. "Because you can't tease me with something like that and then bring me into the bedroom."

"Against the desk it is then," Severus said before reattaching himself to Harry's neck.

Harry stretched his neck to give Severus better access and moaned.

Severus maneuvered Harry around toward the desk, looping his other arm under Harry's butt to lift him onto the desk. Severus was just about to overdramatically sweep everything else on the desk onto the floor when he noticed a prone body lying curled against the wall.

Harry let out a groan at the loss of contact. After a moment, when Severus hadn't gone on to do anything more interesting, Harry opened his eyes to see what was up. "Sev?" he asked, looking over to see his lover crouched down on the other side of the room.

"It's Damian Warrick," Severus said, turning and getting to his feet with the boy held in his arms.

Harry jumped down off the desk. "What the hell happened?" He hurried over to inspect the boy for himself.

"I don't know," Severus said, shaking his head. "He's unconscious."

"We've got to get him down to the infirmary." Harry couldn't see anything physically wrong with the boy, but he didn't find that at all reassuring.

Harry bent down to scoop up his shirt and pulled it on as he led the way.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"So, what exactly happened then?"

"Nothing, as far as I can tell," Madam Pomfrey said. She was fussing over Damian, tucking the crisp white sheets around his limp body. "I've run every diagnostic test that I can think of, and there's nothing wrong with him. I gave him a pepper-up potion a little while ago. I'm surprised that he hasn't woken up yet. He should be able to give us some answers when he does, but I have no idea when that will be."

No sooner were these words spoken than Damian started moving restlessly in bed and making groggy noises.

"Damian?" Harry asked, going to the boy's bedside, "Mr. Warrick?"

"I'm awake!" he said abruptly, sitting up in bed. He looked around in confusion. "Where am I?"

"I would think that it would look familiar by now," Severus said. You're in the infirmary. I found you unconscious on the floor of my office. Any idea how you got that way?"

Damian groaned and fell back against the pillows. "Don't let her keep me overnight," he pleaded. "I just got away."

Severus glanced as Poppy.

"There's nothing physically wrong with him," she repeated. "If he feels okay, he may leave now."

Damian tried to get up out of bed as soon as she said this, but Severus placed a hand against his chest and pushed him back down. "Just answer a few questions first, Mr. Warrick."

"Okay," Damian said, sitting up.

"What were you doing in my office?"

"I went to return your books," Damian said. "I don't know what happened to them; I must have dropped them." He gave Severus a guilty little smile. "I'm sorry, sir. I hope they weren't damaged at all."

"I'm much more concerned about you, Mr. Warrick. What happened?"

Damian looked down at his hands, fumbling with the edge of the blankets. "It's kind of hard to explain."

"Just try the best you can," Harry encouraged.

The boy still didn't say anything.

"Please, Mr. Warrick. I need to know what's going on at my school," Severus said, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Damian looked up at Severus, and his cheeks were flushed slightly in embarrassment. "When I realized that you weren't in, I should have left, sir."

"But you didn't?" Severus asked, careful not to sound too disapproving.

"No, sir," Damian shook his head.

"Did you perhaps touch one of the items in the cases around the room?" Severus asked, thinking of the many enchanted items that came with the headmaster's office. Certainly some of them were dangerous under the right circumstances, and all of them needed to be handled with care, but he couldn't think of any one specifically that would have rendered Damian Warrick unconscious.

"No, sir, certainly not," Damian hedged a moment longer before admitting, "I sat in your chair."

Severus frowned. "A definite faux pas, but my chair is not booby trapped in any way. I hardly see how that could have anything to do with how you lost control of your faculties."

Damian sighed, but had obviously steeled himself to give a full account, because he continued quickly after that, finally offering them some real information. "I didn't mean to pry into anything, sir, really I didn't. I just wanted to return your books, and I was hoping that maybe we could have that game of chess. When I found that you weren't in your office, I decided to wait for a few minutes, in case you were just out for a bit. After fifteen minutes or so, I was going to leave; really, I was. Then, just as I was getting up to go, I caught sight of some papers on your desk. It was a letter from Mr. Weasley, sir, concerning the dragon, and I was curious, so I sat down in your chair and started reading the papers. I didn't mean to pry or anything, I just wanted to see if Mr. Weasley had found anything out. So I read the letter, and when I set them back down on the desk, that's when it happened."

"When what happened, Mr. Warrick?"

The boy blushed again. "I had a vision, sort of."

"A vision of what?" Severus narrowed his eyes; he didn't set much store by divination.

The boy looked down again, not meeting his eyes.

"Really, Mr. Warrick, I hardly understand how I am expected to discover the cause of your distress if you will not be forthcoming."

"I saw two men," Damian said finally, "at first they were arguing, but then,…" Damian's blush deepened.

Harry and Severus exchanged a significant look.

"They were kissing," Harry provided.

Damian's eyes darted to Harry. "Yes, sir, and other things…" he looked back at Severus, "on top of your desk, sir."

Severus' eyebrows made a bid for cover toward his hairline, and he smirked slightly. "Most vexing Mr. Warrick, and did you recognize either of these men?"

Damian frowned at that, and finally shook his head very slowly. "But, they did look familiar."

"Salazar Slytherin, perhaps?" Severus suggested.

"And, Godric Gryffindor?" Harry added.

Damian's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes, that's who it was, how did you know?"

"I've seen that particular vision myself," Harry answered, "but, I guess I missed the good part. I think it might have something to do with why you were attacked."

"I don't understand."

"I think that the dragon that attacked you is somehow connected with Gryffindor and Slytherin," Harry said.

"Do you know how you ended up unconscious in the corner?"

Damian shook his head.

Severus nodded, "Very well, Mr. Warrick. If Madam Pomfrey has given you a clean bill of health, you may return to your dormitory."

"I'm not in trouble?" Damian asked in disbelief.

"Not tonight," Severus answered, "but if I ever catch you in my chair again, rest assured, there will be hell to pay."

"Yes, sir," Damian said, nodding emphatically and smiling.

"Goodnight then, Mr. Warrick," Severus said.

"Goodnight," Harry added, and they headed toward the door.

"One last thing," Severus said, his hand on the door handle. "If I wasn't in, how did you get into my office?"

The blush returned to Damian's cheeks, and he gave Madam Pomfrey a sideways glance. "You and Professor Potter seem quite close, sir. When I was asked for the password, I made an educated guess."

It was Harry's turn to blush. "You need to change that, Sev," he hissed in an undertone.

"Quite perceptive of you, Mr. Warrick, but I hope I can count on you to keep your conclusions on that matter to yourself?"

"Yes, sir," Damian nodded again He brushed Madam Pomfrey away from him so he could finally get out of bed.

"Do you need an escort back to your common room?" Severus asked.

"Naw," Damian said. "I think I can probably make it back to the dungeons without being attacked or rendered into a coma."

"Don't overestimate yourself," Severus said lightly, and he and Harry left the Hospital Wing.

"Does it occur to you that of the three times we've left the castle together, the only time Mr. Warrick didn't end up in the Hospital Wing was the time that we took him with us?" Severus asked on the way back to their rooms.

"I was just thinking that," Harry said. "Do you think it's just a coincidence?"

"It's possible."

"But, you don't think so?"

"As scant as we are on leads, I don't think that we can afford to ignore anything. Have you renewed the bond with the castle since our return?"

Harry looked sheepish and closed his eyes for half a moment to hastily reach out for the castle's magical signature and renew the bond. He was met with the usual tingling warmth rather than the unease that he'd been expecting.

"Hogwarts doesn't seem too worried," Harry said finally. "Maybe we're blowing this out of proportion. Damian wasn't hurt."

"No, but he's eleven and he's been treated to what amounts to amateur porn of the school's founding fathers, and he's been unconscious for at least a couple hours. He might not be physically hurt, but he's not completely alright either."

No, Harry supposed that was true enough. The boy's innocence had suffered quite a blow if nothing else. But then, if he was constantly subject to the thoughts and feelings of others, how much innocence could Damian Warrick really have left?

"I'm exhausted," Harry said, yawning as they rode the staircase up to Severus' office. "Would you hold it against me if I said that I just want to go to sleep?" Harry smiled at him. "You can call me a tease if you want."

"Go ahead," Severus said; he couldn't say no to that smile. "I'll wake you in the usual way in a few hours and make an honest man out of you."

"The usual way?"

Severus made a suggestive hand gesture.

"Well, if _that_ isn't love, I don't know what is," Harry said. His smirk broke into a yawn as he trudged toward the bedroom. "Aren't you coming?" he asked when Severus didn't follow him.

"I have a few things I wanted to take care of. I'll wake you when I go to bed."

"In the usual way?" Harry asked, smirking.

"Wipe that idiotic grin off your face, Potter, or I will make sure that you make good on your promises now."

Harry glanced longingly at the big mahogany desk, and was about to say that maybe he wasn't feeling quite so sleepy after all, when another yawn forced its way out instead.

"Get some sleep," Severus said, gesturing back to the bedroom. "You're going to need it."

Harry smiled again and went off to bed.

Severus sat down behind his desk. _Gryffindor's desk. _The letter from Charlie Weasley was sitting there like Damian had said it was. Severus glanced it over before setting it aside. There wasn't much else on his desk. Severus was by nature a very organized person. There was a ledger with some of the school's finances in it, a few quills, an inkpot, and Dumbledore's old sweet dish, still full of the man's favorite lemon drops- now stale with age. Severus didn't care for them, but couldn't bring himself to throw them out.

He placed his hands palm down on the smooth wood of the desktop. He relaxed, focusing on the feel of the wood beneath his hands, and reached out for any residual magic. This use of magic was brash and ham-fisted, none of the finesse and fine level of control that he was used to. Severus found it somewhat distasteful, but if Potter could figure it out, it couldn't be that hard.

At first there was nothing. Then he sensed a light thrumming beneath his hands. He concentrated on the sensation, honing in on it. Again, it took a long time to get any sort of response. By the end that thrumming seemed to consume his entire body, until suddenly it stopped. There was a moment of complete blank stillness, and then the thrumming was replaced by a different sensation. It wasn't the warm tingle that Harry had described to him in such great detail. Of that he was sure. No, this was something much different. His toes curled and he felt his balls tighten as the feeling washed over him- sinking into his muscles and bones. The images were shaky and a little grainy, like an old Charlie Chaplin film that he'd seen a long time ago. Only, he was pretty sure that Chaplin had never done any of the things he was witnessing on camera- or at all for that matter; from what he heard, the man preferred sixteen-year-old girls, not thirty-something ginger-haired wizards.

Slytherin had Gryffindor pinned against the desk. Both men were completely naked but positioned in such a way so as to block all view of anything truly revealing. Grainy as the image was, it seemed as though Severus could reach out and run a hand along Slytherin's hip; he was so close. If he could only find his hands, that was. The image filled his entire field of vision: Slytherin grinding his hips against Gryffindor's. For a moment, Severus was worried that the resulting moan would wake Harry, but then he remembered that the scene before him was only in his head. The thought of Damian sitting here watching this, most likely in clearer resolution, turned his stomach, but it was a passing concern. The increased passion of the two men cavorting before him had Severus in rapt attention.

Slytherin had his face buried in the ginger tresses of Gryffindor's hair. Severus could barely make out the sound of sibilant hissing as Slytherin mumbled in parseltongue- whether whispering sweet nothings or cursing oaths, he couldn't tell, but it amounted to the same thing either way. Gryffindor's face was a mask of sweet agony that Severus recognized well. He'd seen the expression often enough on Harry's face, though he was usually on the other end of the hissing.

"I'm not going to make it much longer, Sal," Gryffindor said in a ragged whisper as he bucked his hips up to meet Slytherin's.

Slytherin pulled back, straightening his arms against either side of Gryffindor's head to support his weight; he lifted his head from the nest of ginger hair where he had been licking the curve of Gryffindor's ear. His eyes were heavily lidded with lust as he pressed his hips against Gryffindor's to keep the other man still. He met Gryffindor's eyes and let out another hiss- more deliberate this time.

Gryffindor smiled. "You're doing it again."

Slytherin closed his eyes, and when he opened them again they were clearer, more aware. He tried again, and this time it came out in English. "Come inside me."

Gryffindor let out a sound halfway between a moan and a sigh, and with a powerful thrust of his hips and arching of his back he was able to reverse their positions.

They didn't last long after that. Gryffindor sheathed himself in one fluid motion, covering Slytherin's mouth with his own. It took only a few shallow thrusts before they were both coming hard- holding each other tightly as they rode their release.

Severus pulled his hands off the desk as though he had been burned and slumped back into his chair, breathing heavily. He sat there for a long time, not moving, After playing the scene over in his head for the hundredth time, for purely clinical reasons, he shook himself out of his stupor. He popped one of the lemon drops into his mouth to give himself something to focus on and immediately wished he hadn't.

It seemed to do the trick though. Severus snapped back into full awareness and rose to his feet to pace before the fireplace.

It bothered him immensely that he hadn't been able to fit all of the pieces together to make some sense of this whole situation. It was quite likely that they were still missing huge pieces of the puzzle, but, still, he should be able to deduce something. He went over the details again in his head.

If you went along with Harry's premise that the dragon attack was related to Damian's abilities with magical field manipulation, likely enough, and that the dragon was somehow related to Gryffindor and Slytherin, less likely but better supported, then it wasn't such a stretch to say that Damian Warrick might somehow also be linked with the school's founding fathers.

He could possibly be a descendant. Though, that was highly unlikely. Wizarding bloodlines were very closely documented, and Severus would have known if the Warricks were related to either family. As far as he knew, Damian's mother, Malinda Corsbuck, was only a second generation witch. Severus couldn't think of any other link Damian could have to either man. There was no documentation of either having any natural ability at magical field manipulation. It felt like he was missing just one link in the chain, but he should be able to infer a single link if he had all the links leading up to and proceeding after it. _Deducing the ocean from a single drop of water._ But, Severus just couldn't see it.

It never occurred to him that he and Harry might be that missing link. How could he have guessed that their unlikely union, _like turning oxygen into gold,_ had sent events into motion several centuries in the making? How could he know that Harry's destiny had not been fulfilled by the fall of Lord Voldemort, but really had only truly begun with it, and the events that would follow would shake the very foundations of Hogwarts itself?

No, despite his great faculties for deduction, such concepts were beyond his reach, and he simply could not see his part in all this. Blame it on preoccupation with thoughts of his young raven-haired lover asleep in the other room. He was blinded by love, or lust, or both. Before his pacing could further wear the rut into the floor, one well worn by Dumbledore and traced back through a hundred headmasters before him to Gryffindor himself, he gave up on trying to figure it all out. Things would come to a head quickly enough, and everything would reveal itself in the due course of time. In the meantime, he had other things to see to- namely one Harry James Potter who had been sleeping comfortably for far too long now.

Severus had plenty of ideas for how to remedy that.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: This was a little shorter than my other chapters have been lately, but I'm working from an outline now, so I didn't want to deviate too much. I'm aiming for twenty-three chapters plus a prologue.

Anyway, review please.

Here's another challenge if anyone is interested.

This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes quote:

"I trust that age doth not whither, nor custom stale my infinite variety."

The first person to tell me which story it is from wins the prize. Bonus points for anyone who agrees with me on the best screen portrayal of Holmes. (Hint: It's not Robert Downey Jr.)


	16. A Minor Variation

Author's Note: Sorry I've been away for so long again, but I'm sure you're all used to it by now. The last chapter's challenge response is posted also. It's called Merely an Affectation, and you should be able to find it from my author page. FrogetteNo1 won and wanted a Sherlock Holmes story.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Give Me Life

Chapter Sixteen

A Minor Variation

xXxXxXxXxXx

"So much for our nice relaxing weekend," Harry grumbled Monday morning after Severus had to all but roll him out of bed.

"The trials and tribulations of the working man," Severus intoned in a sarcastically sympathetic voice. "Now go make my breakfast."

"Go down to the Great Hall," Harry said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I don't have time to cook. I have to find all my grading. Half of it is over here, some of it's at my place, there's some in my office, and you know how the Ravenclaws get when you don't have their test results first thing the next class period."

"Trust me. They have nothing on Ms. Granger." Severus inwardly shivered at the memories of the shrill frizzy-haired child, an image he sometimes had trouble reconciling with the brilliant well-rounded witch that the girl had become. "Will I see you at breakfast, then?" Severus asked, pulling on his boxers as he stepped into the bathroom.

"Yeah, maybe," Harry nodded absently, pulled on his dressing gown, gathered up what papers he could find, and sneaked quietly through Severus' office and across the hall.

xXxXxXxXxXx

He never did make it down to breakfast. He ate a piece of toast while he graded the handful of tests that he missed over the weekend.

Harry was on his way to his office a few minutes before classes started with an armful of papers when raised voices down a side corridor caught his attention. With a sigh, Harry turned that way to find out what all the commotion was about.

"You must want to be a Death Eater, hunh?" It was a girl's voice, vehement and sneering.

Harry frowned as he rounded the corner.

Damian Warrick was kneeling on the floor, bruised and bleeding, while four first-year Gryffindors surrounded him. The girl was in front of Damian with her back to Harry, and she didn't see him walk up behind her. The other students, all boys, were too intent on the spectacle of their Slytherin prey to pay him any notice.

"You're disgusting, Warrick," she continued, kicking him in the gut. Damian let out a cry of pain and curled in on himself. "They shouldn't even let you bloody Slytherins through the gates. You should all be locked in Azkaban with the rest of the Death Eaters!"

Harry was so taken aback by this display, that he was frozen to the spot. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he took in every detail: the rivulet of blood dripping from the laceration on Damian's cheek, the way his chin quivered as he tried not to cry, the girl's mass of chestnut brown hair, her fingers gripped around her stubby little wand as she pulled it out and pressed it under Damian's jaw.

That's when Harry's anger bubbled over and broke through whatever checks he had on it.

Harry hadn't felt such all encompassing rage since Voldemort had still had access to his mind. He just couldn't believe that children from his own house, eleven-year-old children, were capable of something like this.

Before he could stop himself, his wand was out and pointed at the girl. "EXPELLIARMUS!" The girl was thrown against the wall with incredible force, and her wand flew into Harry's raised hand.

The children all stood there gaping at him. The only sound was Damian's sobs as he collapsed against the floor.

Harry shut his eyes tight, trying to reign in his anger before he started hexing or transfiguring the students. "GO TO MCGONAGALL'S OFFICE NOW!" He shouted as soon as he was capable of speaking. If Harry had his way, he would have expelled all five students on the spot, but he didn't have the authority. "A thousand points from Gryffindor."

Harry strode over to Damian and helped the boy to his feet.

"But, sir!" It was one of the little boys standing to the side watching. "A thousand points?"

"Each," Harry said, glaring at him. "McGonagall's office, NOW!"

Finally the Gryffindor students stopped standing around and staring and scurried off down the hall. One of the boys helped the girl; she was limping and sobbing, but Harry couldn't bring himself to care.

"Are you okay, Mr. Warrick?"

"Been better," Damian coughed out, struggling to a sitting position. "You can be kind of scary, you know." He looked away, hiding his tears. "Not that I'm complaining."

Harry let out a sigh of relief. If Damian was well enough to crack jokes, he'd probably be okay.

"You dropped all your papers," Damian said. Harry slipped an arm under his shoulder and helped him to his feet, but Damian was too unsteady to stand on his own.

Harry looked around. He didn't even remember dropping his armful of papers, but they were scattered all over the hall. He looked from the strewn grading and back to Damian clinging to his shoulder.

"Dobby," he called. There was a pop as the house elf appeared before him.

"How can Dobby be of service, Harry Potter, sir?" Dobby asked, bowing low.

Harry adjusted Damian's weight on his shoulder so that the boy wouldn't fall again. "Dobby, can you gather up all these papers for me and put them in my office?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is happy to assist Harry Potter in any way he can." Dobby snapped his fingers and the papers flew into a pile in his arms.

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said. "I need you to do a couple of other things too."

"What else can Dobby do?"

"I need you to find Professor McGonagall and tell her that there are five students in her office that are in severe trouble. I need to talk to her before she decides how to deal with them. Then find Severus and tell him to meet me in the infirmary."

Damian groaned.

"Sorry, Mr. Warrick, but you don't have much choice." Harry scooped the boy up into his arms. "Thanks, Dobby," Harry said, and he took off up the hall toward the hospital wing.

"Making a bit of a habit of this, aren't I?" Damian said as they approached the double doors.

"You might even have me beat," Harry said. "I don't think I've even made it into the infirmary three times in the first month of term."

"And I'm not even on the Quidditch team."

"I fully expect you to try out next year," Harry told him.

Damian snorted.

That's when Madam Pomfrey billowed over. "Mr. Warrick. Did you miss me already?"

"He was attacked in the hall by some students," Harry explained.

"Put him on the bed here," Pomfrey said, gesturing over to one of the beds and gathering up a half-dozen potion bottles.

Harry set Damian down and stood out of the way while Pomfrey went to work. Within a couple minutes, Damian was looking a lot better and Pomfrey was healing the cuts on his face and arms.

Severus swept in then, making a beeline for Harry. "What happened?"

"He was attacked by some Gryffindors," Harry said, "first years. I want them expelled."

Severus frowned. "Where are they now?"

"I sent them to McGonagall's office."

Severus nodded. "Alright, Mr. Warrick?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, about the usual." He ran his hands over his face after Pomfrey was done healing the lacerations.

"I'll handle this," Severus said to Harry in a low voice. "Expulsion might be overreacting, but I'll make sure they're punished sufficiently. Stay here with Damian. Draco has a free period right now; I'll have him cover your class."

"Thanks. Have him hand out papers. They should be on my desk."

Severus nodded and swept out of the room.

Poppy left to go fetch some more potions, and Harry moved forward to stand next to Damian's bed. Damian looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.

"What happened, Mr. Warrick?" Harry asked. "Did you do or say something to provoke them?"

The whole incident had Harry thinking being beaten by Dudley and his gang and of the memories he'd glimpsed of Severus being tormented by his father and the other marauders. It was not a comparison that sat easy with him.

"No, sir. I was just walking down the hall, and Maggie walked past with that bunch of boys, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. She must have hexed me from behind."

Harry felt his anger welling up again.

"Don't expel her."

Harry looked up, surprised. "Why not? She attacked you without provocation. I don't really think that now is the time to turn the other cheek."

"I knew Maggie when we were little. Her mom and mine were friends," Damian explained. "Her parents were killed during the war."

"That's no excuse," Harry said, but he was feeling slightly more forgiving with this new information.

"I could feel them all while they were doing it. It was muddled and vague, but I got the picture." Damian's chin was starting to quiver again. "They were disgusted by me. They thought I was evil. They thought that I was just as bad as all those people who supported You Know Who. Donnie Pratt was thinking about his older sister. She has scars all over her left side from The Carrows."

Harry took his glasses off and rubbed his hands over his face. "You're not disgusting, Damian, and you're not evil. They're just malicious hateful little children and they don't understand that everything in the world isn't black and white. Don't let them bother you."

"That might be easier if I wasn't outnumbered five to one," Damian said. "The thing is, I understand why they did it."

"That doesn't make it right."

"No," Damian said, "but I don't want them to get expelled."

"It's probably a good thing that isn't my decision to make then. If it was up to me, they would all be out on their arses right now."

Damian's eyes widened at hearing his professor curse, but then he smiled. "Did I hear you right when you took five-thousand points from Gryffindor?"

Harry grimaced. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Damian's smile widened to a grin. "Well, that was worth it."

"The Headmaster will probably give them all detention until Christmas."

"Even better," Damian said. He sat up on his elbows and turned to get out of bed.

"Madam Pomfrey's going to send you right back to bed when she gets back," Harry said when Damian got to his feet.

"That's why I'm not going to be here when she gets back." Damian strode toward the door.

Harry followed after him, not quite sure why he wasn't sending the boy back to bed himself.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Where's Harry?" Ginny Weasley demanded.

"Professor Potter's whereabouts is not your concern, Ms. Weasley," Draco sneered.

Being left at the mercy of Potter's N.E.W.T. class was not exactly Draco's idea of a good way to start the morning. He watched the class out of the corner of his eye while he looked for the students' test results. They were in a jumbled pile on the desk, and he had to go through the whole thing to pick out the graded tests for the seventh year students.

He hadn't had to deal with any of the older students yet. He wasn't quite sure how Potter managed it. It was too weird. Less than a year ago, these people had been his contemporaries. He didn't feel like he had the slightest measure of authority over them.

"Here, pass these out, Weasley," he mumbled, handing the tests over to Ginny.

"Of course, _professor_," the impudent little bint sneered.

"Five points from Gryffindor for your tone," he said, and it made him feel a little better. She glared at him and began handing out the papers.

"Can anyone tell me what you were scheduled to work on?" Draco asked, trying to navigate his way through Potter's disorganized mess of class notes.

"We're supposed to start on basic occlumency this week," Ginny answered as she paused next to Demelza Robbins to fish her test from the pile.

Draco let out an inaudible sigh of relief. This, at least, was something that he could cover reasonably well. He'd been able to occlude his father since he was thirteen. It was a handy skill to have when you were constantly surrounded by Slytherins and Death Eaters.

The ability to read other people's thoughts while keeping yours a mystery was such a Slytherin branch of magic; Draco was surprised that Potter had the stomach for it. But, the Gryffindor golden boy seemed to be able to stomach a good lot of Slytherin things lately.

He flicked briefly through Potter's notes while Ginny finished handing out the graded tests. The man's writing was completely incomprehensible. He flicked away a piece of parchment in disgust as he rounded the desk and leaned cat-like against the podium, brushing back a lock of platinum blonde hair as he began.

"The surest way to attain information is directly from the source. In a combat situation it is of the utmost import to retain sole access to your own thoughts. With the use of Legillimency, an opponent may easily pull any memory from your brain to view as they choose. The Dark Lord was quite fond of using it to discover embarrassing secrets with which to exploit his followers. Occlumency is the only defense against Legillimency. It requires both finesse and concentration.

"If I were you, I wouldn't even bother attempting it, _Ginevra_."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"If you won't stay in the Infirmary, then I'm escorting you back to your common room," Harry said, stepping into pace beside Damian.

"Why do you care so much?" he asked.

"You're one of my students," Harry answered.

Damian looked up at him for a moment, silent and doubtful. Harry was suddenly reminded that Damian could probably read his feelings maybe even some of his surface thoughts. The knowledge made the look that Damian was giving him rather unnerving.

"I have some experience with bullying," Harry added.

Damian scoffed.

"I wasn't always Harry Potter, you know."

Damian frowned.

"Until I came here, I was just the skinny kid in baggy hand-me-downs and taped glasses who got beat up a lot." Harry grimaced. "Look, you're a good kid Damian, and you drew a poor lot. It's in my self-sacrificing noble Gryffindor nature to want to protect you, so just let me walk you back to your common room and keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum, okay?"

Damian smiled. "Yeah, alright."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was surprised to see Damian Warrick walk through the door for his last class of the day. He was in his office with the door open, gathering papers together as he watched the students file in. Outwardly, Damian appeared fine. But he had just been attacked. He was more than entitled to take the day off. The last place he must want to be is in doubles Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors.

The class was conspicuously small at that- with only one Slytherin to speak of and five Gryffindors missing. Harry hadn't yet heard back as to what their final punishment was to be, but he sincerely hoped that they had been expelled. He only had nine students today instead of the usual fourteen- already small compared to the twenty-six students in his other first-year class. He watched Damian closely as the boy took a seat near the front. The other students sat further back, leaving a wide berth between the two houses.

This made Harry angry. That wasn't exactly fair of him, hypocritical really; he hadn't been exactly chummy with the Slytherins when he'd been a student.

Still, it was all so petty: student rivalries based on what color jumper you wore. Harry would have liked to believe that they could move past it, but that was naïve. He'd set aside those petty irrational feelings of animosity, but it hadn't been easy. It had taken his own death to really understand why those feelings were so wrong in the first place. To look at that disgusting baby-thing in King's Cross Station and feel only pity. Returning from death. Finally ending the whole horrendous business. Sitting in the Hospital Wing after and watching Severus' chest rise and fall. Rise and fall. Rise and fall. He'd sat there, holding Severus' unconscious hand and just watching that wasted chest until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

They tried to take him away. Everyone did. First they tried to coax him. Then they tried to goad him. They wanted to know why he was sitting there holding the hand of the Death Eater who had killed Dumbledore when the beds surrounding him on all sides were filled with friends and allies- when so many others were dead. The dead ones he couldn't help. The injured had others who cared about them. Snape had no one. Just him. Just Harry. Harry who he had sacrificed for all down the line without ever telling him. Harry could almost bring himself to hate Snape for that. For never saying all of those things that went unsaid. Suffering alone when Harry was hurting too.

Hurting so much.

They just couldn't understand why he wasn't out celebrating their victory. Harry started explaining a few times, but no one was interested in listening. When they couldn't lure him away with their words, they tried force. With the exception of the healers and Hermione, he hexed anyone who came close.

They sent an Auror to keep watch over Severus, just in case he made a miraculous recovery (no one expected him to) and tried to escape. Harry didn't recognize the man. He held the Elder Wand against the underling's throat and told him not to come back unless he had Kingsley Shacklebolt with him.

Harry was beyond reasoning by then. The man scurried off to find a superior, and Harry sat back down and took Severus' hand into his.

Kingsley was busy sifting through the mess at the ministry- mostly for his own political gains. He didn't arrive until almost noon the next day. He was minister Shacklebolt by then, and his first act as Minister of Magic was to grant Severus a full pardon. He did this with Harry's sworn word as the only evidence that the man had been on the side of light the whole time. There would eventually be a minor inquiry for the sake of decorum, but Shacklebolt assured Harry that the matter was settled.

Sometimes it was nice to have friends in high places; Harry had thought when Kingsley left. It never occurred to him that this was precisely the reason why Kingsley had granted the pardon on no more than Harry's word in the first place. As far as 'high places' went, Harry Potter might as well be living on Mars. Severus would have pointed this out to him if he had been conscious.

Severus didn't rejoin the world of the living for over another week. In that time, Harry hardly left Severus' bedside for more than the few moments it took to relieve himself in the loo across the room. Dobby brought him all his meals, and he hardly slept more than a few hours a night- usually commandeering the bed next to Snape's, but sometimes just transfiguring a blanket or pillow from whatever was handy and sleeping in his chair.

It was four in the morning when Harry felt Severus' hand stir in his. Harry stood up, smoothed the hair back from Severus' forehead. He'd spent one afternoon carefully cleaning out all the blood and brushing the ebony locks to a luster, arranging the thick mane around Severus' shoulders. He waited while Severus' eyes fluttered open and took a moment to focus on him.

"You look awful," he said, it came out hoarse and barely comprehensible.

It was true. He'd been taking better care of Severus than he had himself. He hadn't showered in Merlin only knew when, and there were dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"I died," he said, smiling. "What's your excuse?"

Severus blinked and looked around. It was dark, and the Infirmary was practically empty. Most of the patients had either been sent home or transferred to St. Mungo's.

"Hell looks extraordinarily a lot like the Infirmary."

"You're not in hell."

"Well, this certainly isn't heaven."

"It's the Hospital Wing," Harry said. "Can you sit up?"

Harry helped him into a sitting position against the pillows and got him a glass of water.

"Is it over?" Severus asked. "What happened?"

Harry explained everything, starting with leaving Bill and Fleur's wedding and ending with how he had convinced Kingsley to grant Severus a full pardon for his alleged crimes. Despite being hounded by reporters and members of the ministry, this was the first time that Harry had told the story in its entirety. The experience was cathartic. It was starting to get light outside by the time he finished, and it was a measure of just how close to death Severus had really come that he didn't interrupt once throughout the whole tale.

The next day when Severus awoke, Harry was gone. Even now that they were seeing each other romantically (Harry could never quite merge the concept of dating with his image of Severus Snape) they had never spoken of it again. Severus had never questioned Harry's motives behind spending that time at his bedside nor had he asked why Harry had left the next day.

Harry wasn't sure he would be able to answer him if he did. He was waiting to see if Severus would survive, and as soon as he was sure that he would recover, Harry left. Suddenly, he couldn't stand being in the same room as Severus. Every time he looked at the bandages on the man's neck, he was overcome with a mixture of fear, relief, regret, sorrow, pain, guilt, and, hardest to handle, love.

He couldn't bear that.

So he returned to Grimmauld Place, locked himself in one of the bedrooms, and wept for three days straight. When he finally left the house, he went to the Ministry. Kingsley asked him for a favor, and Harry spent most of the next couple of months hunting down former Death Eaters- always listening for some news of the only one who really mattered to him.

Severus had made a full recovery, resumed his position as headmaster, and received an Order of Merlin (first class.) That was after Harry returned from South America with a bound and gagged Lucius Malfoy. He told Kingsley that he was done hunting down dark wizards, thank you, but no, he would not like to take a position with the Auror office, not Deputy Minister either, and would he please be so kind as to award Severus Snape an Order of Merlin.

He'd done more than anyone to deserve one, and Harry vaguely remembered a half-overheard conversation from his third year which might indicate that Severus would want the accolade. If nothing else, it would go a good way toward improving his reputation- not that he would care about that.

Then Harry went home to his rented flat in London and spent a week buying furniture, watching television, and turning down job offers, before finally requesting a meeting with Snape and, subsequently, the Defense position.

The last couple of students trickled in just as the bell rang for the start of class. Harry took one last look at the gap of empty seats surrounding Mr. Warrick and descended the stone steps from his office.

He decided to do something about it.

"How much do you know about the founding of the school? I know that some of you are muggle-born, but have you covered the founders at all in your History of Magic classes?"

Damian's hand went into the air, as did a couple of the Gryffindors'.

"No hands, please," Harry rubbed his face, running his fingers through his fringe, and perched on the edge of his desk, facing the students.

The hands lowered. The Gryffindors exchanged looks of confusion, and Damian met his eyes full on, searchingly. Harry got the impression that Damian was trying to read him, and occluded his mind the best he could. He didn't know if it would have any effect against Damian sensing his magical signature, but it couldn't hurt any.

"Let me just try to explain." Harry waved his hands forward. "Everyone move up please. It's hard to talk to you when you're way back there."

The Gryffindors reluctantly moved forward, closing the gap between themselves and the Slytherin, with a rustle of parchment and textbooks.

"Okay," he said when the room had grown quiet again. "The four founders built this school themselves. It was a lot smaller to begin with, of course, but they cleared the ground that Hogwarts stands on and built her brick by brick themselves. Back then, there weren't really schools for witches and wizards, because there were so few of us at the time. That was when the first muggle-born wizards were starting to crop up. Prior to that, magic ran solely in the old wizarding bloodlines.

"So Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin set out to change all of that. They thought that if they could get all of the young wizards and witches of the age together, then they could pool their knowledge and learn from one another. Before that everyone just learned what they could from their parents.

"They call this the Golden Age of Magic. Our numbers were expanding. Hogwarts was producing powerful fully-fledged wizards. Other schools started cropping up. But the important thing to remember is that Hogwarts was the first, and it was founded by four people who shared a common vision for the future.

"The four most powerful and most influential witches and wizards of the age, imagine that for a moment. When you get that many A-type personalities together, it's only natural that they're going to disagree on certain things, quite adamantly I would imagine. But they started out as friends, friends with a common goal."

Harry was drawing heavily on what he'd read in _Hogwarts: a History,_ and he didn't at all fancy the idea of Hermione finding out about it.

"Once they had the school built and the students gathered, it came down to actually devising a curriculum and teaching them. This is when the houses were founded. Each one of them wanted to produce the very best witches and wizards that they could, and they each had their own ideas on how best to do that. They had their own ideas of what values and characteristics made the best students, but it was all about matching the right student with the right curriculum: the house that would best cultivate their natural strengths. It wasn't about rivalries back then, just about what was best for the students. So, we know that Gryffindors are brave, and Ravenclaws are clever, Hufflepuffs are hard working, and Slytherins are cunning."

Harry scanned the students. Damian was eyeing him carefully almost mistrustfully; the Gryffindors were an even split between bored and raptly attentive- clearly divided by birth; the magic-born had heard all this before.

"Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor were about as close as any two people can get." This perked up a few ears, though Harry doubted that any of them understood the connotations of this last statement. "They enjoyed competing. Each man thought that his students were superior to the others, but they congratulated each other on their successes. They consoled each other on their failures. Do any of you understand that? How a rivalry can be productive and born of friendship and camaraderie."

The Gryffindors looked doubtful. Harry frowned. He rubbed his face again, sighing.

"I didn't understand that at your age either. It took me a long time and a lot of bad experiences to finally learn that lesson. I would spare you that if I knew how." He sighed again. "I don't, but what I can do is tell you a story and hope that when the time comes you might understand what it means.

"When I turned eleven, on my birthday, I learned about the existence of the wizarding world, I learned how my parents really died, and I learned a little about the legacy that I had been left. If you had lived my childhood, you would be able to understand what a wondrous thing this was. The next day I went to Diagon Alley to buy my school things, and I suddenly went from being a lonely abused orphan to being a part of something: a community where I was accepted for who I was. It was… liberating, beyond belief.

"The first wizard my own age that I ever met was a boy named Draco Malfoy."

All of the students grew more attentive at the name.

"My first impression of him was… well, not exactly good. He reminded me a great deal of my much hated cousin. He wasn't the sort of person I would want to be friends with. Later, on the school train, I met the people who would become my dearest friends in the whole world. Malfoy didn't think much of the company I kept, and so I didn't think much of him. When he offered his hand in friendship, I refused. If I had never met him, or if I had accepted his friendship, I would have been sorted into Slytherin house as the Sorting Hat wished instead of begging it to put me anywhere else."

There was a laden silence from his students.

"The Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin, sir?" One of the Gryffindor boys asked, looking up at him uncertainly.

"It most certainly did," Harry said, "and it wouldn't have been wrong. I would have done well in Slytherin. I have no way of knowing how things would have turned out differently, but, more often than most people would suspect, it was my Slytherin qualities that got me out of trouble, not my Gryffindor ones. In fact, it was usually my Gryffindor qualities that got me into trouble in the first place."

A few of the Gryffindors chuckled at that.

"Draco and I just rubbed each other the wrong way. Even now, there is no gray area between us. We are either eerily similar or completely opposite on everything from hair-color to Quidditch positions. We bring out the best and the worst in each other in equal amounts, and I would be utterly lost without him.

"The magical world exists by a balance of powers. Yin and Yang if you will. Black to White. Blue to Yellow. Green to Scarlet. Just imagine a world of only one type of person. Do you know what things would be like if it was just a bunch of Gryffindors running around?" Harry shuddered at the very idea. "It would be just as bad as if everyone was a Slytherin, or a Ravenclaw, or a Hufflepuff. It's when we come together that we're at our strongest, at our best. Without an opposite to even the balance we all fall short of greatness.

"Draco Malfoy did more to form me into the man that I am today than any of my friends ever did. For that, I will be eternally grateful, and because of that he will always be my fondest rival."

"But, you're friends!" a Gryffindor girl protested. "I've seen you together at dinner, and that broom race. You're always joking around."

Harry shrugged. "We set aside the hatred. We've both been through enough. The whole world has been through enough. We don't need any of that hanging over our heads anymore. Anything he did to me was just as bad as anything I ever did to him. That stuff cancelled itself out, and just left us. I'm not sure how to explain it."

"Symbiosis," Damian said.

Harry smiled at him. "Yes, that's it exactly." He looked around at the others and was disheartened by what he saw. None of them seemed to take any of his words to heart. If anything, they looked confused, betrayed.

Harry took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you all promise me to at least consider what I've said? I know that some of you sat under the Sorting Hat and begged not to be put into Slytherin. Probably more Gryffindors than Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs, because if the two houses weren't so different, they might realize that they're practically the same. Trust me, you will all benefit much more from the people who challenge you than you ever will from the ones that you get along with easily. You should all try to take advantage of each other's strengths not each other's weaknesses."

Harry glanced over them again. What he saw was a little more hopeful. He had a pretty good idea about which Gryffindors had asked not to be put in Slytherin (likely most of the ones who attacked Damian in addition to the couple in his classroom at the moment) and it seemed like there might be some hope for them.

"Go, all of you," he said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand. "Read chapter five and take notes, and think about what I said."

It was an hour and a half before the end of the period, but the students were far too eager to leave to ask any questions. Damian lagged behind.

Harry offered him a weak smile.

"That won't help you know," Damian said, leaning against the desk next to him. "It's not going to change how they feel about Slytherin."

"Not now," Harry agreed, "but eventually something will happen to make them question it, and then they'll remember what I said, and it will at least make them second-guess themselves. Maybe it will make them think next time."

Damian shook his head. "And maybe Slytherin house will die out."

Harry shook his head. "I won't let that happen."

"How can you stop it?"

"Sheer obstinacy, I would expect," came the velvety drawl from the doorway as Severus strode in. "That was quite the little performance, Potter."

Harry shrugged. "How did things go with the Gryffindors?"

"Suspended from classes for the rest of the day, and weekly detentions until Christmas break."

"That's it?" Harry couldn't help the outrage seeping into his voice.

"With Filch in the bowels of the dungeon, doing whatever his discretion should allow," Severus continued.

Harry brightened at that. "Didn't McGonagall trust them to detentions with me?"

"I dissuaded her from the idea, suggested it might be in the students' best interest to be hung upside down from the ceiling," he joked. "They seemed to concur. Besides, your time is much too valuable to be overseeing detentions on a weekly basis."

Harry smirked.

"I should probably be going," Damian said, standing up straight and gathering his things as he darted surreptitious glances between the two men.

"Actually, Mr. Warrick," Harry said. "If you're not too busy, I'd like to show you something."

"Um," Damian said.

"Won't take more than an hour," Harry said, straightening his wand as he hopped off his desk. "Be back in a bit," he said to Severus. "Dinner in my quarters tonight, if you like. I have lamb marinating."

"Mmm," Severus pursed his lips. Harry grinned at him, stepping backwards out of the classroom to make contact with those glittering eyes for as long as possible.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Sir, this is the girl's toilet," Damian pointed out as they entered the second floor girl's lavatory.

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Warrick, I am aware."

"You wanted to show me a girl's toilet?"

"Not at all," Harry strode across the empty bathroom to the sinks and hissed at the faucet to open up the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Hello, Harry," Moaning Myrtle, practically cooed as she swept over. "I thought I heard you hissing. Heading back down again, are you?"

"Yes, Myrtle. This is Damian Warrick. Damian, this is Moaning Myrtle."

"I was killed by the basilisk you know," she boasted as she held out a hand.

Damian shivered as the ghostly appendage passed through him. "How, ah… terrible."

"How sweet of you to say," she cooed. "Oh Harry, you always have the nicest friends!"

"Thank you, Myrtle." Harry said. "Damian and I really have to go now, though. Maybe we'll talk later when we get back."

Myrtle's lower lip quivered for a second, and then she broke into sobs and vanished down the nearest toilet with a splash.

Damian and Harry exchanged a look.

"Okay," Harry said after a moment. "It's a bit of a rough ride down, so just hold on to your wand tight, and try to keep your elbows in."

"We're going down there?" Damian looked at the pipe skeptically.

"It will be worth it, trust me," Harry said. "Unless you're afraid…"

Damian gave him a droll mocking look. "I could have been in Gryffindor too, you know. The Sorting Hat had a hard time deciding for me too. Don't think you're so special."

Harry chuckled. "After you then, Mr. Warrick."

He made a sweeping gesture toward the pipe, and Damian gave him a defiant look as he slipped down into it and out of sight.

Harry met him at the bottom.

"So where are we?" Damian asked.

"This is the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said. "Well… the chamber to the Chamber of Secrets, I guess."

"What are we doing down here?"

"I need to look for some papers in Salazar Slytherin's office, and I thought you might find it interesting."

Damian followed Harry through the hole in the rubble and into the outer chamber.

"You might want to cover your nose; once I open that door, the stench is going to be pretty thick."

"Stench?" Damian asked.

"I killed that basilisk a few years back. It's still down here."

Harry covered his own nose with his sleeve and hissed at the statues to open the main entrance to the chamber. Damian choked and hurried through on Harry's heels as they quickly crossed the chamber to the statue of Slytherin. He activated the counterweight by stepping on Salazar's massive stone toe, and a section of the statue slid aside to grant them entrance to Slytherin's office.

"How did you find this place?" Damian asked, looking around the office with wide eyes.

Harry considered the question. "I think I was supposed to," he said finally. "When Voldemort killed my mother, a piece of his soul was broken off and put into me. That's why I can speak Parseltongue. Everyone thought that I was the heir of Slytherin. I was the only one who knew that I wasn't. So, I set out to find out who was opening the Chamber of Secrets. When the time came, everything just seemed to fit into place." Harry shrugged. He walked over to Slytherin's desk and started rummaging through the drawers.

"What are you looking for?" Damian asked, wandering around the room looking at everything.

"Letters from Gryffindor to Slytherin. I found a stack of them down here last week, but the correspondence stops before it should. I think that there has to be more in here somewhere."

Damian paused before the fireplace and examined the sword and the little painted portrait of Godric.

"They really were in love, hunh?"

Harry glanced over to see what Damian was looking at. "I think so, yes."

"That makes the whole thing seem so stupid."

"What whole thing?"

"All of it," Damian said, striding over. "The rivalries. The war. How things ended between the two of them." Damian gestured with a thumb over his shoulder at the portrait on the mantle.

"How much do you know about that?"

Damian shrugged. "I borrowed _Hogwarts: a History_ from the library this morning. After that vision last night, I was curious." Damian's cheeks tinged pink. "I read most of it this afternoon."

Harry chuckled. Severus was right; this kid really could give Hermione a run for her money- or Severus as a student for that matter.

"Anyway, I think it's ridiculous. If you love someone, then you should be with them, no matter what other people think."

"I think so too," Harry agreed.

"If they had just stayed together like they wanted to, none of it would have happened. Voldemort never would have been born."

Harry had never thought about it that way before. How different his life would have been if Gryffindor and Slytherin had stayed together and Voldemort had never been born. His parents would still be alive. He never would have been sent to live with the Dursleys. Sirius never would have been sent to prison. So many people, casualties of the war, would still be alive. Dumbledore would still be alive. Severus never would have had to kill him.

That was too much for Dumbledore to ask. It had broken something inside of Severus, something that couldn't be fixed. Harry understood why he had done it. It was what had ultimately helped Harry to defeat Voldemort, even if it hadn't worked the way Dumbledore intended; Draco had won the Elder Wand from him after all, not Severus. But then, Voldemort hadn't known that. Severus had saved Draco's life. If Voldemort had known that Draco was the Elder Wand's true master (though by that time, he'd passed that honor onto Harry) he would have sought out Draco instead. Malfoy never would have survived an attack from Voldemort, and Harry was sure that the Dark Lord would have killed Malfoy himself instead of sending Nagini to do his dirty work. Draco wouldn't have posed any threat to him, and he just liked killing by that point.

All of this knowledge sat uneasy with Harry. The idea that all of his misfortunes could be traced back to Salazar Slytherin being either too ambitious or too cowardly to be with the man he loved bothered him. It was almost enough to make him hate the man, but Harry also felt sorry for him. It couldn't have been easy- any of it.

"Do you want me to help you look for the letters?" Damian asked.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, okay. I found the other ones in a box on the mantle. Look around in the sitting room while I go through the desk again."

Damian walked back into the sitting room and started looking around for anything that looked like it could contain the letters. Harry went back to searching through the desk. For being so similar in design, it didn't resemble Severus' desk at all. There were papers everywhere and random bits of detritus that had been shoved in random drawers because it didn't have anywhere else to go. As messy and disorganized as it was, the desk reminded Harry a lot more of his own than it did the monolith in Severus' office.

Harry found a little velvet drawstring pouch in the top drawer of the desk. He opened it carefully and pulled out two vials. One held a memory, opalescent and glowing faintly in the dim. The other was a potion. Harry couldn't be sure what kind, but he was sure that Severus would know. He put both vials back into their little pouch and tucked it carefully into an inside pocket of his robes.

"I think I might have found something," Damian called from the sitting room just as Harry pulled open another drawer.

He closed it and walked into the sitting room. Damian was sitting on the floor, partially obscured from view by the armchair, and Harry didn't notice right away that the kid's eyes were rolled up into his head. Harry couldn't quite bring himself to be surprised. He sat down next to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. When Damian didn't startle right away, Harry turned his attention to what Damian had found. It was a small wooden casket filled with letters: obviously from Gryffindor. Damian had evidently touched one and triggered some kind of vision like before. Harry kept an arm around Damian's shoulders and waited it out. After a few minutes, Damian blinked his eyes back into focus and jerked away from Harry.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

Damian looked around the room for a second and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Another vision like before?"

"About Gryffindor and Slytherin, but not like before. This one was less… explicit."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, helping the boy to his feet. "I should have realized that there was a risk bringing you down here. Are you sure you're alright? Should I bring you to the Infirmary?"

"I'm fine," Damian answered quickly. "One trip to the Hospital Wing a day is my limit. I probably shouldn't touch that again though," he gestured at the box.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." Harry latched the box and picked it up. "Tell me about what you saw," he prompted. "You said that it wasn't explicit this time. What were they doing then?"

"They were here." Damian looked around the room again. "The fire was lit. Slytherin was sitting there," he gestured to the armchair, "and Gryffindor was on the rug, there was a rug, at his feet."

"What were they doing?"

Damian shook his head. "Nothing, just talking, drinking a bottle of wine."

"Could you hear what they were talking about?"

"I think hear is the wrong word. It was all in my head. But I could _tell_ what they were talking about." Damian frowned, trying to remember it exactly. "They were talking about a gallery."

"Like an art gallery?"

"I think so. They were talking about protective enchantments. Helga was being silly: overprotective. I think that she painted some of the portraits."

"That's strange. Did it seem important? The enchantments, I mean."

Damian shook his head. "No, they were just talking. Joking about it, I think, but I can't be certain."

"Right, well you're excused from classes for the day, so I know that Professor Malfoy won't be missing you, but I think we'd both better change before dinner." He gestured at their filthy slime-covered robes.

"Yeah," Damian wrinkled his nose. "Probably a good idea. Everyone hates me already. I doubt they'll like me any more if I smell like a sewer."

"I don't see how anyone can hate you, Damian."

He shrugged it off. "So, how do we get out of here? Do we have to climb back up that pipe?"

"No, we can floo back to my office. We could have taken it down, I suppose, but I think the pipe is kind of fun: makes it feel more like an adventure."

Damian looked doubtful.

Harry took the box, patted the vials in his pocket to make sure they were safe, and flicked his wand at the cold fireplace to light the fire. Harry tossed in some elderly floo powder from the pot on the mantel, and they flooed to his office.

"You're absolutely sure that you're okay?" Harry asked again as Damian gathered his things.

"Yes, sir, I just really need a shower."

"Okay then, better get going," Harry waved him off.

Damian started to leave, but paused by the door. "Why did you bring me down there, sir?"

"I was going anyway, and I thought that you would find it interesting," Harry answered. Damian continued to look at him, clearly not believing that this was the whole truth. "_And_, I think that the dragon that attacked you used to belong to Salazar Slytherin. Severus disagrees, but I'm almost positive."

Damian was quiet for a moment, considering the implications. "So you think that I'm connected to Slytherin somehow, other than just having been sorted into his house."

"It's a possibility. A likelihood," he added after a moment. "You've had two visions about Godric and him, and you were attacked by a dragon that I have every reason to believe belonged to him. If you're not connected in some way, that's an awfully big coincidence."

Damian nodded. "Okay, I'll try to figure it out, see what I can come up with."

"If we knew what the connection was, it would go a long way toward discovering what is going on."

"I'll try to think of something," Damian said, and he left.

Harry considered going up to his rooms to read the letters, but he didn't want to wait that long. Instead, he shut the door to his office with a flick of his wand and hit it with a basic warding spell. Then he opened up the casket on his desk and carefully sorted through the letters.

He was almost halfway through the stack when Severus found him. Harry looked up as he was alerted to a breach in his wards. Severus walked in and sat down in the chair before Harry's desk.

"I felt the wards and I was hoping to find you in here doing something interesting, and here you are _working_: such a disappointment. Are you planning on eating at all tonight?"

Harry waved off the idea. "Later. I found some more letters in The Chamber. Well, Damian found them actually. And, I need to borrow your pensieve."

"It's not my pensieve. It's the school's pensieve. And, speaking of which, I think you have something of mine."

"Your memories?" Harry looked up from the letter he was reading again. "I kept them safe, but I didn't think you'd want them back. I mean, they're not exactly happy. Not for the most part."

"No, and if it was that simple, I probably wouldn't, but right now I have the memory of the memories, and I think that's worse."

Harry nodded. That made sense.

"What did you need the pensieve for anyway?"

Harry removed the little vial of memories from its velvet pouch and held it up for Severus to see. "Found it in Slytherin's desk, thought it might be worth taking a look. Also this," he fished out the vial of potion and handed it to Severus. Any idea what it might be?"

He swirled the vial and looked at the contents. "I'll have to run some tests. You found it in the pouch with the memory?"

"Yeah."

Severus made a thoughtful sound.

"What?"

"That's just interesting. I wonder if the two are linked. I'll have to run some tests, and we'll need to view the memory to be sure, but this could be important." He swirled the potion again. "Did you find anything relevant in the letters?"

"Relevant to the potion or to Damian?"

"I'm looking for information that might be relevant to me, Potter. Just tell me anything that you think might fit that description."

Harry smirked and filed though the letters that he'd already read and handed one to Severus.

_Salazar,_

_ I can't do this anymore. I love you more than anything. More than my wife. More than my children. Even more than our school, but I just can't do it anymore. I can't hold you in my arms, breathe deep your scent, whisper in your ear, and then just watch you go back to Mariana again and again. It's a lie, and I just can't stand to live like that anymore. You don't want to leave your wife. I understand that. It's honorable, but I was here first, and I can't help but feel betrayed. Either way, I can't do it anymore. I can't see you every day, make love to you in hidden rooms and secret passageways, and know that you belong to someone else._

_ I'm going away again. Madrid this time, I think. I'll be gone by the time you get this. Don't try to find me. I won't let you. I'll be back before the start of term. Hopefully a couple months away are all I need. I may be selfish, but you have your heirs. You don't really love her. I don't understand why you won't leave her. Never mind, I don't want to have this argument again. I'll see you in September._

_ Hire a new Ruins professor._

_I love you,_

_~ Godric_

Severus laid the letter down on the desk. "How is that relevant?"

"There's no more correspondence until the end of August. Then this," Harry handed him another letter.

Severus gave him an eyebrow raise and unfolded the second letter.

_Sal,_

_ I'm back._

_ I'll be waiting in the Slytherin common room. There are a few things I want to discuss._

_~Godric_

"Then what?"

"Nothing for another three months, then this one." Harry handed him another letter.

_Slytherin,_

_ The burns have healed. My back is better. I don't blame Abbaraxis. As for you…_

_ I told you once that I couldn't leave the school. I'm not so sure anymore. I still love you, but I also hate you now. I don't think that I could go back now even if I wanted to. Things could never go back to the way they were before, even if you finally left Mariana. It doesn't matter anymore._

_Goodbye,_

_~Godric_

Severus frowned. "Is that the last one?"

"Nope." Harry held up the stack of letters. "There's still at least thirty more. There's a three year break, and then they start up again. The letters after that almost seem as if nothing had ever happened."

"What do you suppose that means?"

"That they made up."

"No, the last letter," Severus waved it in Harry's direction, and Harry cringed at the damage to the brittle parchment.

"Obviously, the dragon attacked Gryffindor."

"But it doesn't say why."

"He sounds angry, like it was Slytherin's fault."

Severus nodded. He was quiet for a moment. "I think that we should view that memory," he said finally and added, "after you've changed. You smell like a sewer."

Harry looked down at his soiled robes and grimaced. He'd forgotten what a mess he was, caught up in the new information in the letters.

They walked back to their quarters, keeping to the back halls and less used stairways to avoid the students. Almost everyone was down in the Great Hall anyway, but Harry would rather not run into any of his students in his present slimy state.

Severus took some pleasure in relieving Harry of his grubby robes and dressed him in clean ones from the wardrobe.

"I feel like a doll," Harry said, stretching his arms so that Severus could slip a thick black outer robe over his shoulders. "And you're dressing me like you."

Severus glanced over Harry, now dressed all in black. "It suits you."

Harry raised an eyebrow and adopted his best imitation of Severus' scowl. "Do you really think so, Snape?" he drawled.

"Don't do that." Severus frowned. "Come on." He turned from Harry and led the way back across the hall to his office.

Harry unstoppered the vial while Severus prepared the pensieve. "Should we watch it together, do you think?"

"I see no reason not to," Severus said.

Harry poured the memory into the stone basin very carefully, and the memory swirled around. He exchanged a look with Severus before they both entered the memory.

_"What do you want?" Slytherin asked. He stood in the doorway, a large white dragon with eyes like sapphires crouched next to him._

_ Gryffindor turned around. He was tanned, but he didn't look good. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and he'd lost weight. A sad smile wandered across his face and disappeared. "I needed to see you."_

_ "You've been back for three days," Slytherin spat. "Why now?"_

_ "Does it always have to be like this with us?"_

_ "Like what?"_

_ Gryffindor bit his lip. "I don't want to fight with you anymore."_

_ "Always seem to manage it anyway."_

_ Gryffindor sighed. "I shouldn't have left."_

_ Slytherin shook his head. "You needed to, but you should have talked to me first."_

_ "I couldn't"_

_ "Yeah, well," Slytherin's gaze bore into him. "You've always been a coward."_

_ Gryffindor cringed as if he'd been slapped. "And you always know just how to hurt me."_

_ "I know how to pleasure you also."_

_ Gryffindor nodded. "I've left Audrey. She's taking the children to Cornwall."_

_ "Nothing has changed. My offer remains the same. I won't leave Mariana. I've made a commitment. I have three beautiful children. She's fulfilled her half of the bargain. I won't betray her. You will always be my love, but Mariana is my _wife_. We can continue as we were before, as long as we're discreet, she won't make an issue of it."_

_ "I can't do that anymore. Not now that I've left Audrey. If you won't commit yourself to me completely, then I don't want you."_

_ Slytherin's face morphed into something scowling and ugly. "You owe me your life, Godric Gryffindor, don't presume to deny me anything," he spat._

_ "You saved my life and let an innocent girl die." Gryffindor clenched his eyes shut. "Every day I have to live with the knowledge that the only reason I live is because she's dead. I wish you had let me die. I owe you nothing."_

_ "I did what was in the greater good. Your life is worth more than hers ever would have been. That doesn't matter anyway, I love you and I did what was in my best interest. You know I'll never regret it, and you _do_ owe me your life."_

_ "So I should sacrifice myself to you?" Gryffindor demanded. "Let you use me as you wish and never ask for anything in return. Is that what you saved me for? Is that what love means to you?"_

_ "Don't you dare question _my_ honor. I'm not the one that abandoned my family and my obligations."_

_ Gryffindor's face quivered, somewhere between anger and tears. "I hate you," he said quietly._

_ "I don't care."_

_ "I love you," Gryffindor said, even quieter._

_ Slytherin turned his back on him. "I don't care."_

_ Gryffindor pulled his wand and had it pressed under Slytherin's throat in an instant._

_ That's when Abbaraxis attacked. The instant that his master was threatened he lashed out against Gryffindor: hard whip across the back with his tail. Gryffindor's robes tore, but it hardly mattered, because an instant later they were on fire. He twisted, pointing his wand at Abbaraxis, but with the threat to Salazar neutralized the dragon had backed away. _

_ Gryffindor left him, rolling around on the floor to put out the fire._

_ Salazar regarded him coldly. Deliberately, he drew his wand and pointed it at the smoldering man on the floor. "Crucio," he said in a whisper like a caress._

The memory went black.

Harry sat on the floor and Severus stumbled back from the pensieve.

"That answers a few questions," Severus said.

"That was horrible."

Severus helped Harry to his feet. "Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea." He led Harry into the kitchen and started the kettle. "That was Damian's dormitory," he said, taking a seat next to Harry at the table.

"What?"

"The room that they met in," he explained. "It used to be the Slytherin common room, but now it's one of the dormitories. Damian's at the moment, but it used to be mine, and Draco's if I'm not mistaken. I think you're right about the dragon being Slytherin's, but I'm not sure how that's possible."

"What was Gryffindor talking about? Slytherin saved him and let a girl die. Do you know anything about that?"

Severus shook his head.

"It's what they were arguing about before," Harry said. "The first time Gryffindor left, when he gave Slytherin the dragon."

Severus took a pair of teacups from the cupboard and busied himself with making the tea while he thought it over. Slytherin saved Gryffindor instead of some girl. That wasn't surprising. If it came down to a choice between Harry and one of the students, he would save Harry without giving it a second thought. Gryffindor forgave him anyway, was still alive so that he could forgive him. But why would Slytherin cast the cruciatus on him? No matter how Severus manipulated the situation, he couldn't understand that.

He sat back down next to Harry and handed him his tea.

Harry sipped it and set the cup down. "I think that's the first time you've ever made me anything; you always make me cook."

Severus covered Harry's hand with his own, and they sat there quietly and drank their tea. When they had both finished their tea, Severus drew Harry into his arms and brought him into the bedroom.

He made love to Harry slow and reverently, and held him tightly afterward. Harry had never felt so loved in his life, had hardly ever felt loved to begin with. He fell asleep in Severus' arms, wondering how he had ever existed without that embrace.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The next morning, the point counters had Gryffindor's house points at -4,781. There was no shortage of angry looks directed at Harry up at the high table, but they all paled in comparison to the tight lipped glower that McGonagall gave him when she arrived at breakfast.

"House loyalties aside," she began, "you do realize that the points system is meant to be a disciplinary tool. You've deducted so many points from Gryffindor, that they have no hope of catching up. They will be completely unmanageable now that they have nothing to risk but detention for their misdeeds."

"Well, if you could keep your house from attacking my students, then we wouldn't have a problem." Harry smirked at her. "Looks like you'll just be overseeing a lot of detentions this year."

"Don't try that with me, Mr. Potter. It may work on him," she looked scathingly at Severus, "but I'm not sleeping with you."

Harry tried not to shudder at the suggestion.

Severus just smirked at her and leaned a little closer to Harry, not quite daring to put his arm around him in front of the students. "Don't you think I've done a wonderful job with him, Minerva? Sarcastic and deducting massive amounts of points from Gryffindor, I'm very proud."

Harry's day went downhill from there. I seemed that his week was simply fated to go wrong from the start, because, when the mail came, a large grey owl dropped a funny looking purple letter on his plate and made everything so much worse.

Harry added the letter to the rest of his mail, not paying it much heed, and returned to his breakfast. He didn't get a chance to open his mail until mid-morning break. The purple letter was at the bottom of the pile, and when he opened it he immediately wished that he hadn't. The message was both oddly formal and uniquely ominous.

_Misters Fred and George Weasley request an audience at their Hogsmede branch of operations at 12:00 this afternoon. Come alone._

As it was already past ten, this didn't give Harry a lot of time to puzzle over the cryptic message. Besides, he had a class to teach.

Come noon, though, he was standing in front of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmede wondering what he was in for. With the twins, one could never be entirely certain. He stepped into the shop, quiet on a weekday, and was immediately descended upon.

"Come on, little brother, we need to have a word with you." Fred slipped an arm over his shoulders and led him through to the back room.

"Wha-?" Harry looked from one twin to the other in confusion as George followed through the heavy curtain behind the counter into the back room.

"We're unofficially adopting you," George explained. Harry found himself sat in a chair with the twins looming over him.

"Would've done it sooner, but we always thought that you and Gin would make things official," Fred said.

"Eventually," George added.

"But, since you're a huge pouf," Fred said.

"We figured that wasn't going to happen," George finished.

"Who told you that?" Harry asked. He wasn't going to be fooled into admitting anything until he found out how much they knew already.

"Charlie was in Diagon Alley yesterday," George answered.

"Gloating about how he knew all along," Fred added.

Harry tried to get out of his seat, but the twins each put a hand on his shoulders and pushed him back down.

"Look guys," Harry protested. "If that's all this is about, I've got to go. I have another class in an hour."

"You just sit back, little brother," Fred said.

"We have a bone to pick with you."

"Really, I don't want to get into this right now," Harry said. "It's just been one thing after another lately,… well, always really. But, I don't think I can take anymore right now, so, if you'll excuse me," Harry tried to rise again, but they just pushed him back down, and this time they kept their hands in place on his shoulders.

"Our problem isn't that you're shagging Snape," Fred said.

"Dirty old bugger," George added.

"Our problem is that you didn't tell us sooner."

"We've missed out on a lot of opportunities to exploit that information."

"He's important to me," Harry said. "Don't exploit my relationship. If you really are my brothers, you won't do that."

"All in good fun," Fred said.

"We'd never do anything to hurt you, little brother."

"But, now that we've officially unofficially adopted you, we have to play the part of the over-protective elder bothers and give all your suitors a hard time."

"Free reign to mess with Snape, under the guise of fraternal affection and familial duty."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You know it's a little late for that, right?"

George grimaced. "Details we most certainly do not wish to know."

"That's precisely the reason you should have told us sooner," Fred reprimanded. "You have to give us a chance to suss out the man's intentions before you put out, otherwise what sort of brothers would we be?"

"We've decided to join you for breakfast tomorrow," George said.

"Absolutely not!" Harry pushed them off him and jumped out of the chair."I've had enough unpleasant meals just lately." He pointed a finger at both of them. "You two just stay away and don't cause any trouble."

As if that had ever worked.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The next morning Fred and George were sitting at the head table when Harry and Severus walked into the Great Hall.

Filch stood against the wall, glaring death.

Draco was nowhere in sight.

"Snapey!" they chorused loud enough for most of the Great Hall to hear as Harry and Severus approached.

Severus glared his very best Slytherin glare, but it seemed to have lost most of its potency as the red-headed banes of his existence continued to beam at him, unaffected. Minerva, sitting on George's left, was turning red as she tried not to laugh at the expression on Severus' face.

"Misters Weasley," Severus ground out. "To what do we owe the honor of your presence? You can hardly be claiming the right of alumni as you failed to graduate, so why is it that you are so casually sitting at my breakfast table?"

"Harry invited us," Fred piped.

"Just yesterday," George added.

"I most certainly did not," Harry denied quickly as his lover's wrath turned its attention to him instead. "I might not have a _great_ sense of self-preservation, but I do value my life."

Severus seemed to regard this as an acceptable answer, because he returned his attention to the twins. "Would you like to amend your answer?"

"We just wanted to have a little chat with you," Fred said.

"About recent developments that we've become privy to," George added.

"Nice interjection of the word privy," Fred said, turning to his brother to commend him.

"Like that?"

"I thought it had a certain unassuming charm."

"Thank you."

"Anyway," Fred said, returning his attention to Severus. "We thought it would be most convenient if we just stopped by."

"I'm sure you have a few minutes free after breakfast," George said. "It won't take long."

"Unless you'd prefer to discuss it now," Fred offered, giving the words a meaningful inflection and glancing significantly at Harry and back.

"I suppose I could spare you a few minutes," Severus relented. "By all means, join us for breakfast as my personal guests."

"Don't mind if we do," they said together and began piling their plates high with food.

Even with Draco missing, it was a bit of a squeeze for them to all fit at the table with Fred and George there. Harry ended up wedged in between Fred and Severus. It made him feel a bit like a safety barrier while at the same time, ironically, causing him to fear for his own wellbeing.

All told, Harry was glad when breakfast was over. He walked to his first class, trying not to think about what Severus and the twins were discussing back in the headmaster's office.

xXxXxXxXxXx

George flopped into the chair in front of Severus' desk, and Fred sat in his lap.

"There's another chair," Severus said.

Fred glanced at it. "I'm fine here," he said.

Severus glanced at them curiously, but said nothing as he sat down behind his desk. "You're here now, what do you want to discuss? If you think that you can use my relationship with Harry to blackmail me into allowing your products on school grounds, you're greatly mistaken."

"An interesting notion," George said.

"But, no," Fred concluded. "We're doing just fine with the ban. It's good advertisement. An outright ban on all of our products only creates more interest, and when the items are confiscated, they have to buy more. Our sales are up by ten percent."

"We're here to talk about Harry," George said.

"Your younger brother has already threatened bodily harm if I should do anything to hurt him, so I think you're already covered."

"Well, bodily harm is a given," George said.

"But we're more concerned with the possibility of a lasting relationship."

"What do you mean?"

"We've done our research," Fred said.

"By which, he means we talked to Remus last night."

Fred turned to glare at his brother. "We know that Harry wants a family. He has us, but that's not quite the same. If you don't intend to make it permanent, we want you to break it off."

Severus frowned. "What gives you the right to ask that?"

"Family," George said, "but mostly, we just don't think you'll do it."

"Then why ask?"

"To make you realize what you really want."

"Just think about it," George said. He patted his brother on the arm to make him get up.

"If you love Harry, then you should be prepared to give him what he wants."

"And if you love Harry, you'll keep this all to yourselves. You can understand the need for discretion. If you go spreading this about, I might need to threaten bodily harm."

"Not necessary," George said, waving off the idea.

"Just think about what we said."

Severus watched them go. _What Harry wanted._ That's what this had been about from the start. If Harry wanted a family, then yes they would have a family, but how could Harry want a family with _him._

xXxXxXxXxXx

"There you are." Harry rounded the top of the stairs into the upper chamber of the Astronomy Tower. Severus stood at the balcony with his back to Harry. The moonlight cast long shadows across the floor and made Severus into a tall thin silhouette. His robes fluttered in the breeze. Harry thought that the man had never looked more beautiful. "I haven't seen you since breakfast," Harry continued, folding the Marauder's Map and slipping it into the inside pocket of his robes. He'd eaten lunch by himself, but when Severus wasn't at dinner either Harry broke out the map and followed him up here.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, approaching slowly. Severus still hadn't turned to look at him.

He turned now, face pale in the moonlight, and regarded Harry silently.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked. He walked forward to stand next to Severus.

"Nothing, I just came up here to think." Severus sighed and stretched his neck, brushing the hair out of his face.

Harry looked around. The comment would have been perfectly normal coming from anyone else, but, considering his rather dubious history with this place, the Astronomy Tower seemed a strange place for Severus to come to think.

"You're thinking about Dumbledore."

"It's rather hard not to up here." The white marble tomb dominated their entire view, or maybe it just seemed to- given the connotations of their current vantage point. "But no, I was thinking about what Black said."

"What did he say?" Harry was immediately on the defense. Whatever Sirius had said to upset Severus, Harry wasn't going to let it slide.

"The same thing Minerva said. How does something like this happen?"

"The two of us?"

"Yes, Potter, that was what he was referring to. You were there; surely that vacuous cavern you have the audacity to call a brain can manage to remember events occurring within the last forty-eight hours," Severus spat.

Harry took this abuse with a sigh. "You're upset and you're taking it out on me. If that makes you feel better, whatever, I can take it, but I don't understand what you're upset about."

Severus finally turned to look at him. "How _does_ something like this happen, Harry?"

Harry grinned and sidled over to him. "Did you need a demonstration?"

He pulled away. "I'm being serious."

Harry stepped back, frowning. "Okay. It did happen. What's the problem exactly?"

"I don't understand how it happened either. I hated you almost as much as I hated your father, probably more. Those feelings don't just go away, not in the space of a few months. And they most certainly are not replaced with the kind of all-consuming emotional fixation I'm currently experiencing. I felt guilty about insulting you just now, for Merlin's sake."

"You did?" Harry smiled. "Well, you know what they say, there's a thin line between love and hate."

"Don't pander to me, Potter," Severus snarled. "There is NOT a thin line between love and hate. There are in fact miles and miles of impenetrable jungle between love and hate."

"So, what?" Harry asked, walking over to lean against the balcony next to him. "You don't think there's any way this could happen?"

"As much as I detest the implication that your godfather may have asked a valid question without an obvious answer, I find it very unlikely that our union is the natural progression of any prior relationship."

"Wait a second, are you saying that I gave _you_ a love potion?" Harry pushed back from the balcony to stand up straight, an angry look on his face.

"The thought had occurred to me, but I quickly dismissed it. But, I do think that there may be some outside influence at work."

"You don't think there's any way that you could love me without there being magic involved. Am I that horrible?"

"No, Harry, of course not." Severus pulled his lover into his arms and held him against his chest. "But there were obstacles to overcome, years and years of complicated history that should have needed to be sorted through, and, the problem is, I don't remember doing any of that. It all just happened too easily."

"Easily?" Harry chuckled against Severus' chest. "Now who has the bad memory?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've been trying to find common ground since my fifth year. I had to save your life before you stopped looking at me like a child. I_ died_. Believe me, we've been through plenty to get where we are. Sure, we've gotten here a little more quickly than I would have expected, but none of this has been easy."

Severus sighed, thinking it over. "Maybe you're right, maybe it's nothing."

"What brought this on anyway?" Harry asked.

"I've just been thinking things over today."

"Did Fred and George say something?"

Severus looked away. "I just can't quite understand how we're so happy together." He shot Harry a furtive glace. "You are happy?"

"Of course," Harry burrowed himself in against Severus' robes.

Severus frowned, wrapping his arms around Harry's shoulders. He glanced out at Dumbledore's tomb. "Maybe I'm just too used to being manipulated to trust anything anymore."

Harry pulled his head away from Severus' chest to meet his eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Severus said instantly, and was amazed to realize that it was the truth.

"Then come back to my rooms and let me remind you how right we are for each other."

Severus followed him back, dodging students and McGonagall and one troublesome poltergeist with the help of The Marauder's Map. But they stopped at the portrait of Dumbledore guarding Harry's door.

"The Gallery," Harry said suddenly as a light bulb switched on in his head.

"What?"

"Albus, where's The Gallery?" Harry said, addressing the portrait directly.

"There are several galleries in Hogwarts. There's the one on the fifth floor and-"

Harry cut him off, "No, _The _Gallery."

The portrait frowned. "You're not allowed. That gallery has been hidden for a reason."

"Why? What reason?"

"It's forbidden, Harry. I don't know where you heard about The Gallery, but you can just forget about it."

"It's important," Harry pleaded. "It has to do with Damian Warrick. I need to know where it is."

Dumbledore gave Harry one more disapproving look and left his frame.

"Dumbledore!" Harry protested, but he was gone.

"What was that all about?" Severus asked.

"I'd forgotten until I saw Dumbledore's portrait," Harry said. "Damian had a vision down in The Chamber. Gryffindor and Slytherin were talking about a secret gallery. There are references to it in the letters. It could be important."

"Judging by Albus' response to you asking about it, I'd say that's likely." Severus glanced at the empty portrait. "We're locked out now."

"I want Greg back," Harry grumbled.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry spent the next few days interrogating Dumbledore for information about The Gallery at every opportunity, and subsequently spent most of the week in Severus' quarters. By Friday, he had finished reading Gryffindor's letters, and had checked out several books on the school from the library, but he was no closer to learning anything.

"Malfoy," Harry said, sitting down at lunch with a pile of books. He paused for a moment and glanced over at him. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in days." He'd been so preoccupied with his search for The Gallery that he hadn't even noticed Draco's absence until just now.

"I've been preoccupied."

"With what?"

"None of your business, Potter!"

Harry recoiled. His initial instinct was to lash out, but he somehow sensed that Draco was being defensive rather than offensive- just this once- and he let it slide.

"Well, don't have a fit. I was just asking."

"Who's having a fit?" Severus asked as he sat down beside Harry.

"Malfoy. Yelled at me."

"Why?"

"I just asked him where he's been all week."

Severus frowned. He hadn't noticed that Draco was missing either until Harry mentioned it. "Where _have _you been all week. You're not skipping meals, are you?"

"No, of course not. I've just been having them sent to the field office."

"Why?"

"I've been busy, alright? Lay off."

"Busy with what?" Harry asked.

"Cleaning out the storage shed, overhauling brooms, trying to make my nonexistent budget stretch as far as possible, what do you think?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "You're the one getting all defensive."

"I'm just trying to eat my lunch, and you started interrogating me."

Harry and Severus exchanged a glance, but stopped pestering Draco in favor of a slightly more productive thread of conversation.

"Have you found anything else yet?" Severus asked Harry.

"I know it's not in the dungeons," Harry said, "and I talked to Sirius and Remus, and the twins. They've never heard of it, so wherever it is, it's well hidden."

"How do you know it's not in the dungeons?"

"Gryffindor was talking about the morning light shining into The Gallery in one of his letters."

"That does narrow it down a bit."

"If we could only convince Dumbledore how important this is," Harry grumbled. Dumbledore's reticence was starting to irritate him.

"How important is it? What exactly do you think you're going to find?"

Harry shrugged. "Paintings I suppose. Except, I don't see what could be so important about a bunch of old paintings that it's forbidden to even speak about The Gallery. And isn't the point of having a gallery to let people _see _paintings? Why would you hide it in the first place? Something doesn't quite make sense there."

"Nothing ever quite makes sense when you're involved, Harry."

"Well, how is your research coming then?"

"I've hardly had time to look into it at all," Severus admitted. "I've been called to the ministry five times in the last three days. Kingsley is still trying to convince me to agree to a summer program, at least for the children orphaned during the war, and the Auror office keeps calling me in to question me for information on the remaining missing Death Eaters. I've sent an owl to a colleague of mine in Burma. He's an expert on medieval potions. I'm still waiting for a response."

"So, you have no idea what's in the vial?"

"I could speculate, but without more information it would only be my best guess."

"I would take your best guess over most people's reasoned conclusions."

"As much as I appreciate your high opinion of me, I really couldn't."

"What's that thing?" Harry asked, smiling sweetly. "You should be able to deduce the Atlantic Ocean from a single drop of water."

Severus shook his head in disbelief. "Just when I think you've exceeded all of my expectations," he said. "Oh, fine then. I think it's a paradox potion."

"Okay, what's a paradox potion?"

"It allows the user to create a rift in the fundamental causality of the universe."

"Yeah, remember those expectations? I need those back now."

Severus sighed. "Time travel is inherently a paradox. It's not the only one, but it's a good example. The very invention of time travel negates whatever purpose you've invented a means of time travel for. For instance, say I slip on a banana peel and break my leg; if I were to go back in time to pick up the banana peel, then I never would have broken my leg. But, not having broken my leg, I would have no reason to go back in time to pick up the banana peel, so I would break my leg, but then I would have a reason to go back to pick up the banana peel. Also, if I were to specifically invent a means of time travel so that I could go back in time to pick up the banana peel, I would never be able to use it for that purpose, because if I never slipped on the banana peel I would have no reason to invent a means of time travel in the first place."

Harry blinked a few times while he sorted this out, and then asked, "Do you slip on banana peels often?"

"It's an example, Potter. The banana peel is rhetorical."

"Do you slip on rhetorical banana peels often?"

Severus scowled.

"So,… the potion lets you go back in time to change things, then?"

"No, you can do that anyway, to a point. Minor paradoxes occur naturally anyway, and the universe has a way of buffering against them. I'm talking about creating a major paradox."

"What would cause that?"

"Nothing, that's the point. It's impossible to create a major paradox, any paradox really, because the laws of nature and magic simply don't allow for it."

"But, you just said-"

"Time travel creates a minor paradox which the universe then mends so that it never existed in the first place. It would be impossible to create a major paradox at all."

"Unless you have the potion," Harry clarified.

"Correct, but using it would create a rift in causality and start to unravel reality."

"So, why would you want to use something like that?"

"You wouldn't."

"Then why make the potion?"

"You'd have to have nothing to lose."

"But what would be the purpose?" Harry asked, "Just to destroy the world?"

"Infinite power, Harry," Severus said. "With this potion, you can bend the laws of nature to your will. Reality no longer applies. You can do anything."

"For however long it takes before the world ends," Harry pointed out.

"Well, yes," Severus said. "It doesn't really have any practical applications."

Harry looked doubtful of the whole thing. "So, what makes you think that our potion is a paradox potion?"

"The potion itself only exists theoretically, but Slytherin was supposed to have found a way to make it work and to have brewed a single vial before destroying all of his notes. If you found that vial of potion in his desk in his secret chamber, it would fit the description."

"Why would Slytherin go through all that trouble if he wasn't intending on using it?"

"I'm sure that he was, but it's the same problem as with time travel. Whatever purpose he had intended it for would negate its invention. Even a paradox potion wouldn't be able to defeat the paradox of its own creation."

"So, what do we do if it is a paradox potion?" Harry asked. "We'll have to destroy it somehow. Something that dangerous can't just be left to exist."

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Harry. I told you, this is all speculation. It doesn't make any sense to act on anything until we have all of the information."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, you're right, okay. Let me know if you find out anything." He stood from the table. "I have to go empty everything out of my classroom before class starts. I have the fourth years practicing incendiary hexes." Harry rolled his eyes. He glanced back over at Draco. "Malfoy, you have a hickey on your neck."

Draco flushed and pulled on his collar, trying to cover the large bruise on his neck. "It's not, just looks like it. I got hit with a beater's bat."

Harry grabbed the edge of Malfoy's collar and moved it aside to see. "From here it looks like someone was sucking on your neck."

Draco brushed him off. "Don't you have to fireproof your classroom?"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry leaned surreptitiously over Severus, blocking his face from view like he was whispering in the man's ear, and gave him the briefest if kisses on his jaw just below his earlobe. "I guess that solves the mystery of what Malfoy's been up to," he whispered.

"You'll make a good detective yet," Severus joked.

"Right, well I'm actually off now." Harry grabbed a piece of toast off the table and left for his classroom.

"So who gave you the hickey?" Severus asked, turning to Draco, "and please don't tell me you're dating that Parkinson idiot again."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry passed Mrs. Norris in the hall and cringed. Filch followed a moment later, coming around the corner looking quite as bedraggled as ever. His yellow eyes widened for an instant as they took in the sight of Harry and then were averted to the floor. The caretaker was already carrying a mop, and Harry had to wonder when the man ever slept. Here he was up working first thing in the morning while the rest of the staff was at breakfast, but he'd always been up in the middle of the night to catch Harry out of his dormitory. At the time, it had been an inconvenience, and Harry hadn't given it much thought, but Argus Filch had to be the hardest working man in the whole school- all without the help of magic. Of course, it did help to know the school like the back of your hand.

A light bulb went on in Harry's head.

"Filch!" Harry shouted, spinning on his heels to go after the caretaker. "Argus," he finally managed after fumbling for a moment to remember the man's first name.

"Professor Potter," Filch intoned.

"Hey, sorry to bother you," Harry said. The sentiment was genuine and went a little way toward improving his disposition. "I was hoping you could help me with something."

"What sort of thing?"

"Well, I figure that you know the school better than just about anyone, and I'm looking for a secret room."

"Lots of secret rooms in the castle," Filch grunted.

"This one is called The Gallery. Do you know anything about it?"

Filch was quiet for a moment, then he said, "Yeah. I know the place you're talking about. It's hard to get to, though; I'll have to take you there myself."

"I have class now, but would you mind taking me there after dinner? It's really important."

Filch nodded. "Okay, after dinner."

"Thanks, Argus," Harry grinned. "I owe you a huge favor. Anything you need, just ask."

Harry was in such a great mood after finally finding someone to tell him where The Gallery was, that he didn't even mind that much when the fourth-year Hufflepuffs set fire to his classroom.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"It didn't occur to me to ask Filch," Severus said, as they waited for him in a corridor on the third floor.

"I wouldn't have thought of it either if I hadn't passed him in the hall."

Mrs. Norris came around the corner then, looking up at them with large lamp like eyes, and they halted their conversation. Filch appeared a moment later, carrying an old-fashioned lantern.

"Hello Snape," he muttered.

"Filch."

"This way then," he said, and led the way with his lantern, Mrs. Norris running between his feet as he walked. He led them down a stone passage hidden behind a tapestry that Harry had never noticed before.

"Don't know what's so important about a bunch of old paintings," Filch mumbled as they went down a rickety old spiral staircase.

"Neither do I," Harry confided. "Have you been inside the gallery before?"

"A few times. I don't know what it is you're looking for, but there's not much to see."

"Are there protections?" Severus asked, "Enchantments?"

Filch shrugged. "How should I know?"

"I thought you said that you've been there before," Harry said.

"Yer forgetting I'm a squib, boy."

"Um," Harry said, as usual, his muggle upbringing had him at a disadvantage. He hadn't forgotten that Filch was a squib; he just didn't understand the significance.

"Those types of curses don't affect squibs," Severus explained. "Mr. Filch would be able to enter unharmed while we may be at risk for any number of unpleasant surprises."

"Oh," Harry said, "great."

"Chin up, Potter. The danger is what makes it exciting," Severus said. "Nothing has attempted to kill you yet this semester."

"Ginny made me fly through a ring of fire," Harry pointed out.

"Miss Weasley is a minor threat. She doesn't actually want to kill you, just maim you a little."

"For now, but she might change her mind if she talks to any of her brothers. The others will have filled Bill in by now too, maybe not Percy, but definitely Bill.

"I can't vouch for the others, but Fred and George have been sworn to secrecy," Severus assured, "on pain of death."

"As if that's going to stop them," Harry said.

"I'm happy to do the killing, if neither of you have the stomach fer it," Filch commented from up ahead, down yet another secret stone passage.

"Could we maybe stop talking about killing my family," Harry said.

"You brought it up in the first place."

"Well, if we're going to be worrying about anyone getting killed, maybe we should worry about how Godric and Salazar booby-trapped that gallery. Somehow, I don't think it's going to be as simple as me hissing at the door."

"To be fair, you also had to kill a basilisk."

"I wouldn't have if Riddle hadn't been there," Harry said. "It would have listened to me, but Riddle had more control over it than I did. Too bad, that was a cool snake."

"You can't be serious."

"Completely, it wouldn't have hurt anyone if Riddle hadn't ordered it to," Harry said. "Speaking of which, how does the basilisk figure into all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's not mentioned in the letters at all."

Severus considered that. "Damian's vision took place in The Chamber?"

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"Well, Salazar Slytherin was supposed to have left the monster to guard The Chamber when he left the school. The letters would predate that, so maybe he just hadn't acquired it yet."

"Okay, but if he had a dragon, why would he need a basilisk to guard The Chamber? Why not use Abbaraxis?"

"He might have taken it with him."

"Or maybe he didn't have it anymore."

Severus was quiet for a moment as he thought about this. "Either way, I don't think the actual physical dragon has anything to do with this."

"It doesn't?"

"No. Salazar's memory indicates that Damian was having a corporeal manifestation of one of his visions- this one of Slytherin's attack on Gryffindor. The actual attack took place in what is now Damian's dormitory, and that must have somehow triggered the vision."

Harry frowned. "So, the dragon wasn't actually there? He just had a flash of Slytherin and Gryffindor fighting?"

"So it would seem."

"Well, isn't that '_mystery solved_' then? Why are we still looking into this?"

"Because we still don't know why, Potter," Severus said, irritated, "or how to prevent it from happening again."

"How much farther?" Harry asked, calling ahead to Filch.

"Just at the bottom of these stairs," he answered, turning the corner down a narrow path of worn stone steps.

"Be on your guard, Harry," Severus said. "We don't know what to expect."

Harry pulled his wand from his sleeve and took a step closer to Severus.

They made it down the last few steps and came to a stone arch. 'The Gallery' was written in block letters on either side of a large rectangular keystone. The light from the lantern only shone as far as the arch; it did nothing to light the room beyond.

Harry stepped forward tentatively, placing his hand on the stone archway. When nothing happened, he reached out for his connection with the castle, but the castle shied away from him.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked aloud. His brow furrowed as he tried again, projecting reassurance that he didn't actually feel. He could feel Hogwarts there on the other side of the connection for a second, but then it was just gone. Harry dropped his hand and stepped back.

"Is something the matter?" Severus asked.

"The castle pulled away from me," Harry said.

"What do you mean?"

"It broke the connection. I was going to ask the castle what kinds of protections were on the room, but it just pulled away."

Severus came forward and made his own inspection of the arch. He tried to look inside the room, but it was too dark to see, and the light from his wand tip penetrated the black no more than Filch's lantern did.

"It might be best if you go in first, Argus," he said. "I don't know what will happen when Harry and I enter."

"Oh no. If the two of you are going to be mucking about in there, I don't want any part of it. I said I'd bring ye down here, and I did. I'm sure you can find your way back," Filch turned toward the stairs. "If you haven't turned up in a few hours, I'll come to look for you." He left up the steps, taking his lantern with him, and left them with only the scant light from Severus' wand.

"Is it just me, or do you have a really bad feeling about this?" Harry asked.

"Hufflepuff," Severus muttered.

"Am not," Harry glanced apprehensively at the archway. "I'm just saying, this could go wrong."

"Oh, I understand," Severus said, smirking. "After you then?" He gestured to the arch.

"What happened to your intense desire to protect me?"

He shrugged. "I've gotten over it."

"Fine," Harry responded tersely. "I'll go first, but if something pops out and kills me, you'll be sorry." Harry cast his own "lumos" and held his wand aloft.

"If anything does try to kill you, I have a better chance of saving you than you have of saving me."

"I've saved you at least twice," Harry said, holding up two fingers, but not turning away from the arch to face Severus. "And I killed Voldemort."

"I've saved your pitiful arse more than twice in one year," Severus retorted. "Now, go. Be on your guard."

Harry turned to give him a droll look and stepped through the archway.

The room immediately lit as bright as day. It was a large room, with high vaulted ceilings, and a lot of open space. Paintings covered the walls from floor to ceiling. Harry had once gone to a muggle art museum on a school trip. He probably should have known better, but he had imagined that The Gallery would be much the same. The rush of color across canvases crammed so close together that they were almost touching, as the subjects of the paintings moved around restlessly from frame to frame, was a far cry from the somber ambiance of a muggle museum.

For a moment, nothing happened. Harry was about to tell Severus that it was safe to come in, maybe make some quip about how he'd banished all the big scary monsters and Severus didn't need to be afraid of the dark anymore, when the charm lighting the room flickered and died and he was once more cast into darkness.

His eyes had almost adjusted to the dim when a spectral figure came zooming toward him out of the gloom. It was short and heavily built, and Harry stumbled back- shield already up and a hex on his lips- when the figure finally came into his wandlight. It was a woman, and she had a kind of sturdy plumpness about her that was oddly familiar. It took Harry a moment before he recognized her.

It was Helga Hufflepuff.

And she scared the piss out of him. He had an irrational fear that she would somehow know that he had taken offence at being called a Hufflepuff by Severus moments before. It took a force of will to not shoot that hex off anyway. Instead he redoubled his shields and waited to see what would happen.

"_What business have you in The Gallery?_" the apparition asked.

Harry hesitated. He wasn't exactly sure why he was there. He was looking for clues, but what clues were there to be found in an art gallery? In the end, he decided that he was there for the same reason as anyone else would be.

"I want to look at the paintings," he said finally, bracing himself for some kind of attack if this was the wrong answer.

"_Who are you to demand such a privilege?_" the apparition asked.

Harry surmised that this was no time to show humility. "I am Harry James Potter," he said, "professor at this school, Order of Merlin (first class), vanquisher of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, and savior of the wizarding world." He tried to sound important, but felt like he only managed pompous. "Gryffindor," he added as an afterthought.

She regarded him neutrally. "_And who is your friend?_" she asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Harry turned around to see that Severus had entered behind him- wand out.

"He's a greater man than me," Harry said. "He is the Headmaster of this school, among many other things."

Hufflepuff glanced between both of them. "A Slytherin, and your lover," she said- not a question. "Both powerful wizards in the employ of the school." She smiled at them expansively "I've waited a long time. You are both most welcome, but isn't there another?"

"Filch went back to the dungeons," Harry explained.

Hufflepuff gazed at both of them for a long moment and then disappeared. The light returned, and Harry let out a long relieved breath.

"Guardian spell," Severus commented as the silence loomed, eerie.

"Advanced one."

"Would you expect anything less?"

Harry shook his head. He looked up at the walls as he walked around. "Why do you suppose this place is so heavily guarded? Not to be overly critical- I wouldn't want to step on your toes- but none of these paintings are anything that remarkable. I don't see any reason to hide them away down here and protect them with a guardian spell."

Severus looked up at the painting too. He frowned. "Have you ever seen any of these before, Harry?"

"Of course not; I've never been down here before."

Severus turned his attention away from the paintings to give Harry a mocking roll of his eyes.

"I understand how it may have escaped your limited faculties of observation, but perhaps someone has informed you that the subjects of wizarding paintings move around from time to time?" Severus delivered the comment in his usual _Potter-you're-an-idiot_ tone, but his eyes were smiling. "I've lived in this castle for almost my entire life, and I don't think I've seen any of these people before." He gestured up at the wall- really just one big canvas.

The people in the portraits didn't pay them any attention. Harry watched as a large Peruvian snow dragon, easily recognizable by its color and from the diagrams that Charlie had sent him, as it swooped through the backgrounds of the many paintings on the wall. He gestured at the dragon and Severus nodded. He walked slowly along the wall, gazing up at the paintings as he passed them.

"There's another room here," Severus said as he turned around a corner in the main gallery.

Harry followed him around the corner into the annex.

The room was starkly white in the contrast to the wild color of the rest of The Gallery. It only contained one painting.

Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.

Gryffindor sat in the Headmaster's chair and Slytherin stood over him with a hand on his shoulder. They weren't paying any attention to Harry and Severus, instead looking into each other's eyes. There was a large portrait of the founders hanging in the Entrance Hall, but while he must have passed it a couple thousand times, Harry had never seen Godric and Salazar looking at each other with such love.

Severus cleared his throat loudly and the two men in the portrait turned to look at them.

"Hello," Harry said, "sorry to bother you."

"Then why are you?" Slytherin asked.

"Don't be rude," Godric chastised.

"It's about your dragon," Harry said.

"Abbaraxis?" Slytherin frowned. "Abbaraxis is dead."

"He is?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Godric said. "What year is this."

"2000," Severus answered.

"Merlin," Godric said. "Has it been that long? One tends to lose track. But, if you have a dragon problem, it doesn't have anything to do with Abby. He's been dead for centuries."

"All due respect, sir, but I believe it does," Harry said.

"What makes you think that?" Salazar asked.

"The castle told me."

They regarded him with a little more credence at this pronouncement.

"You've spoken with the school about Abbaraxis?" Gryffindor asked, as though that wasn't nearly as unbelievable as it sounded.

"A student was attacked," Harry explained. "I asked the castle where the dragon had come from, and it showed me the two of you and a Peruvian Snow Dragon egg." He left out the argument and the snogging. "That information led me- led us- to The Chamber of Secrets. I found some letters and a memory."

"_You_ breached The Chamber?" Slytherin asked, eyes boring into Harry.

"Yes sir," Harry said.

Slytherin regarded him for a moment longer before he seemed to make up his mind and his face adopted a lock of pleasure. "Glad to see we finally have one of mine down here. "_And a parselmouth besides_," he hissed this last for Harry's benefit.

"_I am a parselmouth_," Harry confirmed, "but I'm not one of yours. I'm one of his," Harry pointed to Gryffindor, trying not to look _too_ apologetic.

"I, on the other hand," Severus said, speaking for the first time since they entered the annex, "do have the honor of having been sorted into Slytherin House."

"Ah, see there, darling," Godric said, grinning, "one of each. That should please you. We could have them compete, so we could prove who had it right all along."

Slytherin turned his attention from them to Gryffindor. "Neither one of us had it right. That's why it all fell apart."

Gryffindor smiled at him- an infuriating enigmatic smile. "I think that given several centuries for our efforts to mature, you'll find that we both had it right."

Slytherin turned away from him and back to Harry and Severus, regarding them once more. "Perhaps."

"Now," Gryffindor said. "If Hogwarts told you that Abbaraxis attacked your student, I would be inclined to believe it, but, as Abbaraxis is long dead I'm hard pressed to explain how that's possible."

"I have a theory," Severus said. "The memory that we found in The Chamber exactly matched the attack on the student. It occurred in the same room and in the same manner. The student in question has a natural talent for magical field manipulation, and I believe that the attack was a manifestation of some residual magical field."

The founders both regarded Severus with impressed looks.

"That one's mine," Slytherin said in a whisper that none-the-less echoed around the small room. "What does yours do?"

"Speak parseltongue," Gryffindor retorted.

Slytherin rolled his eyes. "It sounds like you have your dragon problem solved then."

"Damian, the student," Harry clarified. "He keeps having these visions, little flashes, whenever he touches something that belonged to one of you, and there are physical side-effects. He's been to the hospital wing twice now because of it. We don't know why it's happening, so we don't know what to do to put a stop to it."

"And how could we possibly help you with that, when we haven't seen the outside of the room in over a thousand years?" Slytherin asked.

"We think that there's some sort of connection between him and you," Harry said.

"Is there?"

"Not that we've been able to find so far," Harry answered. Severus had taken the liberty of researching Damian's lineage but hadn't found any relationship to Slytherin or Gryffindor.

"Then, I don't see how the boy can have any connection to us specifically. He must just be responding to the higher level of magical field energy surrounding Hogwarts."

"If you're right, then he may need to be removed from Hogwarts for his own safety," Severus said.

"We can't do that," Harry protested. "He doesn't have anything to go back to."

"Then we will need to teach him to better control his gifts," Severus said.

"Send him home," Salazar suggested. "Don't be sentimental. If the child is in danger he should be removed."

"It might mean the end of Slytherin House if he leaves," Harry pointed out.

Salazar looked confused by this remark, and Severus explained. "Your house is out of favor at the moment. Damian was the only student sorted into Slytherin this year, and there's no way to know if attitudes will improve in the future. Harry's right. We do not want to be forced to send Damian home."

"Then you should consider using Hogwarts as a buffer," Godric suggested.

"How?"

"You said that you can talk to the castle. Ask it to minimize the effects of the young man's gift. Hogwarts should be able to dampen the magical field around the boy by absorbing the extra magical energy."

Harry never would have thought of that, and it seemed so simple. He should have done that to begin with. "Will he still be able to cast spells, though?"

"I have no idea," Godric admitted. "The castle might be able to compensate, but it's impossible to know for sure until you've tried it."

"There are a few other points," Severus said. "Harry found a potion in your desk drawer with a memory," he looked pointedly at Salazar who refused to meet his eyes. "I need to know what it is."

"It's a mistake is what it is, and if you are as intelligent as you seem you will put it back where you found it and forget you ever laid eyes on it." Salazar was staring down Severus now, and, to his credit, it seemed to be working. "That potion shouldn't even exist, and if I could have destroyed it I would have."

Severus narrowed his eyes, but let the subject drop. Slytherin's answer supported his theory; he could get the final verification elsewhere.

"Alright," Harry piped up, "I have a question. Why didn't anyone want us to find this place? Hogwarts wouldn't even talk to me when I brought it up, Dumbledore left his portrait, and there weren't any references to it in any of the books we could find in the library. What's so important about this place to deserve that kind of protection?"

Godric and Salazar exchanged a glace. It was Godric who finally answered, almost reluctantly. "All of the paintings in The Gallery are real."

"Real?" Severus asked, as though it were the most preposterous thing in the world. "All of them? There are hundreds."

"The intellectual wealth of Hogwarts," Godric replied, "worth more than the library."

"Okay, someone's going to have to explain that to the guy with the muggle upbringing. _As usual_," Harry added with clear resentment.

"Wizarding paintings are just a representation of the subject, but you can create an actual copy of a person by magically putting a piece of that person into the portrait."

"What's the difference?"

"Life," Godric said, smiling. "We are sentient beings capable of independent thought. We're not bound by what the subject felt and thought in the moment of our creation."

Harry looked to Severus for further explanation.

"Consider Dumbledore's portrait," Severus suggested. "It's probably the only one in the castle that you've known as a living person. The portrait shares most of Albus' characteristics, but it's still just a painting. It doesn't have any of his memories or experiences. A _real_ portrait contains a part of the subject, so it can remember everything the subject experienced, but it can also change with new experiences. A normal painting is incapable of change; it is a representation of the subject at the moment of its creation. It's locked into the thought processes of the subject at that time, but it doesn't have the past experiences that its personality is built upon."

"It's a hollow existence," Slytherin said.

"Though, perhaps better than being locked down here for all eternity," Gryffindor pointed out.

"Why not make all portraits like that?" Harry asked.

"Because you have to sacrifice a piece of yourself in the process. You lose that bit of yourself. It's similar to creating a horcrux, but it's not necessarily dark magic. You don't give up a piece of your soul, just a bit of your personality, your experiences: a little of what makes you you. The problem is that you lose that piece of yourself and you aren't the same person anymore. Not exactly."

"Then why would you ever want to do something like that?" The question was directed back at the men in the portrait.

"Sometimes you're happier without some of the things that make you the man you are," Slytherin said. "Sometimes it's just easier to cut that part out."

"It was almost easier," Gryffindor agreed, "knowing that a part of us could be happy, and being able to let go of some of the pain that certain conflicting aspects of ourselves created."

"I'm not sure that I understand," Harry said.

"And you probably never will," Slytherin sneered.

"I hope you never do," Gryffindor added.

"Well, I think that's enough," Severus said tightly, suddenly ushering Harry toward the door. "We should go now. You'll need time to arrange the dampening field with the castle, Harry."

"Bye now," Godric said, waving.

Slytherin smirked. "Do neglect to return."

"Please do come back," Gryffindor amended.

"I'm sure we will," Severus said, before placing a hand on the small of Harry's back and all but shoving his lover out the door. He didn't remove it until they were through the main gallery and back out into the sudden dark of the corridor.

"What was that all about," Harry asked, straightening his robes as Severus cast a lighting spell.

"I had a bad feeling."

"What, like a premonition? I thought that you didn't believe in all that Divination rubbish."

"I don't," Severus affirmed. "However, I do believe that two sentient beings locked in a room together for almost a thousand years should be treated with a good deal of caution, and I didn't like the direction that that conversation was heading."

"And which direction was that?"

"Things better left in the past," Severus said. "Even if the potion you found in Slytherin's desk was not a paradox potion, and now I have every reason to believe it is, it's very dangerous. The state that someone would have to be in to create such a thing is almost unimaginable. You would have to be either completely mad or have nothing to lose and not care what anyone else suffered. It seems clear enough that, whatever the potion's intended purpose, it was created as a result of the attack Damian experienced first-hand. I thought that it would be better if we left before the mentally unstable portraits started reminiscing."

"Yeah, you might be right."

"Of course I'm right," Severus snapped. "I'm always right."

"Not always," Harry argued.

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Can you guess what I'm thinking right now?"

"I don't need to _guess_." Severus cast a silent _legilimens_ and got a rather detailed visualization of just what Harry had in mind. He smirked. "I think most of that can be arranged, assuming you're flexible enough to accommodate. The Room of Requirement is on our way."

"When have you ever known me to be inflexible or unaccommodating?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Oh, just lead the way," Harry said, exasperated. "And no rubber ducks this time,_ kinky_ _bastard_."

"You haven't even begun to experience the lascivious and deviant turns my mind could take, nor all the pleasures inherent within."

"You'd best tie me up and show me then," Harry invited.

"All in due time," Severus assured. "There is no sense in restraining you before I've used that flexibility to its full advantage."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Slytherin nuzzled into Gryffindor's neck.

"Do you think they're the ones?" Gryffindor asked.

"Please tell me you're not talking about that prophesy again. _Two lovers born of houses twain to heal the rift of dragon's bane_…etcetera…etcetera…"

"One of yours and one of mine come to ask us about Abbaraxis? You can't honestly think that's a coincidence. It has to be…"

"It isn't," Slytherin interrupted.

"But the rift between the houses," Gryffindor began to argue.

"Has stood for a thousand years and will probably stand for a thousand more," Slytherin broke in. "Whatever we did that day is long over. What consequences there were have been felt. It doesn't matter anymore."

Gryffindor shook his head. "Maybe you're right. Either way, I hope they come back again."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: I hope that wasn't too ridiculously long or confusing to hold everyone's attention. I think that I probably should have split it into two sections, but I'm trying to stick to my outline.

Anyway, here's the new challenge, same conditions as before:

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

I'm looking for a specific answer here. I'm not saying that's the only answer, but if you're familiar with the reference you'll find mentions of related material in this story.


	17. Bad Case of Loving You

Author's Note: I bought a ball python a few months ago, and now I'm totally addicted to snakes- pythons in particular. In ten years or so when all of my cats are dead, I'm going to get a Burmese. I'd get one now, but they grow really fast, and I don't want to have to worry about it getting loose in the house and eating Locke,… or Pepper,… or Schrodinger… or my brother. Anyway, there was a point here. The point is that I named my snake Crowley, because Neil Gaiman is my favorite author, and Crowley's my favorite Neil Gaiman character. This is important, because it's the only clue that you're getting for the origin of the reference from my challenge last chapter. No one answered it correctly, so it's still open. If no one can figure it out with that hint, and all the resources of the interwebs at your fingertips, then there is no hope for the human race. The prize is the same as always: a oneshot fic about whatever you want, length to be determined by me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. The chapter title is a song by Robert Palmer

Give Me Life

Chapter Seventeen

Bad Case of Loving You

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Ever wanted to visit the orient, Harry?" Severus asked over breakfast without much enthusiasm. He set the morning post down beside his plate.

"Like Japan?"

"China," Severus specified. "I've been invited to a potions conference in Wizarding Hong Kong next weekend. Normally, I would decline, but it could be a good opportunity to confer with a few of my colleagues about the Slytherin potion."

"You want me to go to China with you?"

"I find myself in a position where I am compelled to go to China, and I would find the trip more pleasurable with your company."

Harry blinked. He supposed that was the closest he was going to get to a solicitous invitation.

"Okay," Harry said, "when do we leave?"

"This afternoon," Severus answered. He picked up the invitation and glanced over it again. "I'll leave Minerva a note to let her know that we'll be gone over the weekend."

"What about Damian?"

"What about him?"

"Well, he kind of has a history of landing himself in the hospital wing whenever we leave the castle," Harry pointed out.

Painstakingly, over a period of hours, Harry had managed to arrange it with the castle to dampen the magical field energy around Damian. From there it was a simple matter of adjusting the strength of the field to suit Damian's needs. The easy connection that Damian had with the castle made it simple to adjust the dampening field as he desired, and Damian seemed happier over the last few weeks than he had since he started school.

"Damian will be fine," Severus assured him, "but go ask Draco to look in on him if you want." Severus quickly finished the last few bites of his breakfast. "I'm going to floo ahead to arrange for accommodations and pack. Meet me in my quarters when you're ready to leave."

"Isn't this all really short notice?" Harry asked. "You don't think McGonagall will care if we just take off for the weekend?"

Severus shrugged it off. "Go find Draco. He's probably in the field office if he's not still in his room."

"Yeah, okay. I'll be up in a while then. I still have to get some things from my office. If I'm going to be out of the country for the weekend, I guess I'll have to bring some work with me."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Malfoy, are you in there?" Harry knocked on the door to the field office. He'd already been to Draco's rooms, but he hadn't received an answer there either. "Malfoy?" Harry knocked again.

The door opened to show a sliver of Draco's pale face. "What do you want, Potter?"

"Can I come in for a second?"

"No, go away." Draco started to close the door.

"Wait!" Harry put his hand out to stop it.

"What?"

"Severus and I are going away for the weekend. Will you do me a favor?"

Draco sighed. "Yeah okay, what do you need?"

"Just keep an eye on Damian. Make sure that he doesn't get hurt or anything."

"Keep an eye on Potter's favorite, got it." Draco slammed the door in Harry's face.

Harry shook his head and started back up to the castle, glancing back over his shoulder at the field office as he went. He was halfway back to the castle when he realized that Draco must have had his mystery girl in there with him.

As he was walking through the Great Hall, he caught sight of Damian trying to sneak through into the dungeons with his arms laden with food obviously pilfered from the kitchens.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Warrick?" Harry yelled across the empty expanse of the Great Hall.

Damian froze dead in his tracks, dropping a few of the packages of sweets he was carrying. "Professor Potter, sir, I…" Damian trailed off, failing to come up with a proper excuse for his misdeeds.

"Where did you get all that food?" Harry asked, knowing the answer, but curious to see whether Damian would tell him the truth.

"The kitchens, sir," Damian admitted.

"The kitchens are off limits to students," Harry said. "Give me one good reason not to give you detention." He strode across the length of the Great Hall to where the boy was practically cowering, guilt written all over his face.

"I had permission, sir."

"Permission from whom?"

"One of the house elves," Damian answered. "He came to visit me in the Hospital Wing, sir, told me how to get in the kitchens, said that if I ever needed anything I could just drop by.

"Which house elf?" Harry asked, already suspecting the answer.

"His name is Dobby."

Harry nodded and let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose that if Dobby invited you, it's alright, but be more careful next time. The other teachers might not be so lenient, and don't let me catch you again, or I won't be either." He bent down to pick up the food that Damian dropped and set it on top of the pile in his arms. "Don't tell any of the other students how to get into the kitchens either. You haven't already, have you?"

Damian shook his head.

"Good, one student might be overlooked, but I don't want this turning into a problem. How are things working out with the castle?" Harry asked. "Is everything still okay, no visions?"

"No, the castle blocks out all the external magical energy, so it's just mine, sometimes I have to remind it to relax the dampening field while I'm in class though, because my spells won't work more than a few steps away. I've been sleeping lots better."

"That's good to hear," Harry said. "The Headmaster and I are going away on business for the weekend, and I would appreciate it if you weren't in the Hospital Wing when we get back. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now I'm sure you have a bunch of friends back in the dungeons waiting for you to return with all that contraband, so you better get going."

"Yes, sir, goodbye, sir, have a nice trip," Damian stammered, hurrying away before Harry could change his mind about giving out detention.

Harry started up the steps, making a note to have a word with Dobby when he returned.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Intercontinental apparition is possible, but it is highly magically draining. Harry decided that he would prefer to spend a couple days with lowered magical capacity than ever travel that far by portkey again.

He promptly retched up everything he'd eaten that morning against the wall of the alley they'd arrived in while Severus stood sedately off to the side. When he'd finished, Severus offered him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

Harry took it gratefully and rubbed the remnants of sick from his chin. "I'd say it's a fair assumption that you won't be wanting dinner anytime soon then?"

Harry doubled over and began retching again. When he finally finished, he stood up and brushed off his robes, looking out past the end of the alleyway to a busy wizarding Hong Kong just before dusk. "I hadn't really considered the time change."

It had been early afternoon when they left and now the sun was going down.

"The best way to deal with the time lapse is to try to sleep through the night."

"I just woke up a few hours ago," Harry complained.

"The best way to take care of that is to tire yourself out."

"And the best way to do that?"

"You'll find out as soon as we check in to our hotel."

"You do know that I just threw up my guts a moment ago, right?" Harry asked, taking Severus' hand in his as they walked out onto the street.

"Sorry, make that as soon as we check into our hotel and you brush your teeth."

The hotel was easy enough to find, located less than a block from their portkey's arrival point. Severus took care of things at the front desk, and a bellboy led them up to their room.

Severus tipped him and closed the door, fumbling in his pockets for their luggage so he could enlarge it. Harry walked around their suite in awe. The rooms were luxuriously appointed. They'd entered into a comfortable modern sitting room. The connected bedroom hosted a very large bed, draped in red silk sheets and a white duvet patterned with a series of black concentric circles, a nightstand, and little else. Harry continued into the connected bathroom and nearly walked right into a recessed white marble bathtub big enough to swim in.

"This place is incredible," Harry said when he made it back into the sitting room. He wondered how Severus could afford something like this.

"One of the perks of being the Headmaster is a rather roomy expense account to cover business trips." Severus had returned their luggage to its former state, and he retrieved Harry's toothbrush and handed it to him. "Now, if you would be so kind. I'm going to order some room service, and then we have the next eight or ten hours to enjoy the accommodations before the sun comes up."

Harry took his toothbrush into the bathroom and did as he was told, more than happy to rid his mouth of the taste of vomit and move on to something more enjoyable.

When he returned, Severus was accepting delivery of a room service cart with a platter of fruit and berries and two bottles of champagne with glasses.

"Isn't it a little early for champagne?" Harry asked.

"Nonsense, it's dark outside." Severus filled two glasses and handed one to Harry.

"Aren't you going to make a toast?" Harry asked when Severus brought the champagne flute to his lips.

Severus lowered the glass and rolled his eyes. "Very well. Here's to fallen comrades, well-kept promises, and the hope of a future not haunted by past mistakes."

Harry tipped his glass and drank to Severus' toast, falling into an introspective silence. He reached over for the bottle and refilled their glasses. He raised his again. "And, to cheating death," he said, "and the unlikely way our stolen life has turned out."

"For the better," Severus added, and they drank to Harry's toast as well. "That's enough now," Severus said. "Tomorrow will be about business, but tonight is meant to be a well earned respite, so let's avoid dwelling on the past just this once." He took Harry's hand in his, scooped up the champagne bottle, and led him into the bathroom.

His mouth widened into an appreciable smirk as he caught sight of the gigantic bathtub. "Yes, this should do quite nicely."

"Bringing back memories of wanking off well-built Quidditch stars in the prefects' bathroom?"

"Not until you mentioned it. Would you like me to add another to the list?" Severus asked as set the champagne bottle down beside the tub and bent down to adjust the taps.

"Oh, so now there's a list. Here I thought it was just Tiberius Warrick, now it turns out you're just a big Quidditch groupie. Maybe I should wear my uniform to bed sometime."

"_Gryffindor_ Quidditch players were never to my tastes."

"I'll just go home than, shall I?" Harry asked, turning to leave the bathroom.

"Oh, no you won't." Severus looped a hand around Harry's waist and pulled him close. "You and I are both going to get very naked and luxuriate in this bathtub until our skins wrinkle up like prunes."

"Good plan, but I didn't realize that there were different degrees of naked."

"Then, for the sake of your continuing education, allow me to demonstrate." Severus unbuttoned Harry's outer robes and let them fall to the tiles in a puddle of fabric. Then he pulled Harry's undershirt up over his head, leaving him bare-chested. He leaned forward to run his tongue along Harry's collarbone, trailing kisses up his neck to whisper in Harry's ear. "This is half-naked."

Severus moved down to the fly of Harry's trousers, enveloping a nipple with his mouth on the way to give it a little bite. Harry let out a sharp breath. Severus set to work on his lover's zipper, only pausing in his task long enough to mouth at Harry's erection for half an instant before relieving him of his trousers. This left Harry in only his briefs, prominent erection straining at the thin material. "This would be _practically_ naked," Severus informed him, taking a delicate nip at Harry's cock before proceeding to remove his final undergarment.

Harry's cock hit against his stomach with a wet muffled sound as Severus worked Harry's briefs down over his hips and slipped them completely off. Severus took a moment to lick along the underside of Harry's erection, tasting his young lover's musk, before he rose to loom over him again. "You'll notice the slight difference between _practically _naked and _very _naked."

"Yes," Harry agreed in a gasp, "I see what you mean." He breathed heavily against Severus' neck for a moment while he regained his composure. "I think I understand now. Let me see if I have it down completely." His hands moved to Severus' collar, and worked at first the buttons of his outer robes and then the buttons of the collared shirt beneath, until he had revealed a scant triangle of pale exposed skin. His hands made to continue with the buttons but faltered before they could uncover any more flesh. "Wait a second," Harry said, feigning a dawning apprehension, "for _you_ this is _practically _naked."

Severus swatted his hands away. "If you're going to make _jokes…_" he said testily, hands moving to his collar to make a practiced reclamation of the undone buttons.

Harry's tanned muscled hands met Severus' pale meticulous ones and stilled their motion. "Hold on, now," he said in a whisper, "I hadn't gotten to the good bit yet."

"Which bit is that?" Severus asked.

"The bit where I get you to yield," Harry answered.

"I never yield."

"Of course you do."

"Nonsense."

"Sure you do," Harry said, "usually somewhere between the part where you finally relent with all the banter and foreplay and the part where you're begging me to fuck you harder."

"What makes you think that I'm going to be the one getting fucked?" Severus asked.

"Does that mean I get to bottom?" Harry's hands had taken up their task again.

"Actually," Severus confided, "I rather fancied you on top with my cock up your arse."

"Brilliant!"

"So glad you approve."

"But you haven't let me finish my dissection of your many degrees of nudity yet," Harry protested, "stilling his hands about half-way down the many buttons lining the front of Severus' outer robes.

"By all means, proceed."

"You see," Harry said, allowing his fingers to continue their work at Severus' buttons, "if you have the _infinite_ patience to make it past all of the obstacles," Harry slipped the last button through its corresponding hole and slipped Severus' outer robes over his shoulders, "you may be one of the lucky few to lay witness to a Severus Snape in a state of_, _how would you put it,… _relative _undress." Having slipped off the Potion's master's outer robes, this left him still dressed in black trousers and a collared shirt with only the pale patch of throat exposed. "At which point," Harry confided, "…you'll be met with more buttons."

Harry began to make short work of this also, as the result of long practice. "If," he added, "you have the great will and fortitude to surpass even this obstacle," he finished with the last two buttons on Severus' shirt, "you're one of the _very _lucky few to be graced with a full view of the marvelous display beneath the fortified defenses of Severus Snape's robes." Harry ran an appreciative hand down Severus' chest and across the scarred plane of his stomach.

"Now, if you can show perseverance beyond even that," Harry let his hand trail down to the buttons of Severus' fly, "and if you happen to be beautiful and lucky enough not to incur his formidable wrath," Harry slipped free the last remaining buttons- relatively few considering what they guarded, "you might even get a glimpse of the source of all that self-confidence," he slipped Severus' trousers down, with no pants beneath this freed Severus' considerable erection, "and see just what the great Severus Snape keeps hidden in his trousers." Harry sunk to his knees and slid his mouth around Severus' swollen cock, holding it at the base with his right hand as the left moved to cradle Severus' balls. He gave a few experimental sucks before moving back to look up at Severus and form a question without choking.

"This was _very_ naked then, right?" he asked, smirking around Severus' cock.

It took a moment before Severus was able to compose himself enough to answer. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, just get into the bath already."

Severus turned off the taps as Harry lowered himself into the water. There was a low bench along one end of the bath to sit on and a higher one on the other side with a recessed back if you wanted to lie down and lounge in the water more comfortably. Harry took his ease on the lower bench while Severus used his wand to adjust the temperature and bubbles to his exacting standards. He added another charm to give the bath a whirlpool effect, and swirls of bubbles rose and broke making the surface of the water almost turbulent. Severus lowered himself into the tub next to Harry and leaned appreciatively against the wall.

Harry took another moment to enjoy the pleasant effect that the warm water was having on his already heavy cock, before maneuvering his legs under himself weightlessly in the water and moving to straddle Severus' lap. The other man's erection pressed firmly against his own.

Severus conjured up some soap into his hand and ran it along his own member before giving Harry's opening a hasty fumble. He adjusted his angle and drove home, grabbing Harry's hips to pull him onto his pelvis as he thrust upward. Harry let out a surprised gasp as he suddenly felt the full measure of Severus' prick stretching the capacity of his arse and pressing against his prostate. He made a minor adjustment to the angle of his hips as he struggled to accommodate Severus. A moment later, he pulled off and gave an experimental thrust of his own.

Severus grunted, wrapping one arm around Harry's lower back and the other up around his neck to pull him in for a kiss and another thrust both, Harry's erection rubbed between them with glorious friction

When the kiss broke, Harry buried his face flat against the hollow of Severus' shoulder, eyes clamped tight, panting, as they both gave over to the urging of their bodies- thrusting into each other with mindless abandon.

Suddenly, and without warning, Harry was coming into the warm waters of the bath- come mixing with the bubbles and frothing to the surface between his and Severus' joined bodies. Severus was coming a moment later, jerking and quivering into Harry's receptive body as he held him tight in a last blissful embrace before he collapsed back into the wall of the tub.

Harry collapsed bonelessly against Severus for a moment before rolling himself back against the bench and leaning against him. There was a moment of ragged gasps as they both caught their breath. Then Severus turned to look at him and asked, "Getting pruney yet?"

"No," Harry laughed, "but I feel a bit like a raisin."

xXxXxXxXxXx

They spent the next two hours in the bath, alternately discussing everything from hectic work schedules to the latest Bertie Bott's flavors and shagging themselves senseless. By the time they emerged from the tub, the water had gone cold, the champagne was gone, and they were indeed as wrinkled as a couple of prunes.

When they made it to the bedroom, second bottle of champagne in tow, they had either sufficiently tired themselves out or drunk enough alcohol to manage a few hours of deep sleep. They woke in time to watch the sun rise.

Harry sat out on the balcony, curled up in a patio chair with the sheet from the bed wrapped around him, but otherwise quite naked. He was trying to come up with some kind of interesting degree of nudity to categorize that as and share with Severus in an effort to coax the man back into bed, but he was coming up empty. Severus was leaning against the railing of the balcony glancing out at the Hong Kong skyline.

"Have you been here before?" Harry asked, finally giving up on the nudity angle.

"Many times," Severus answered, turning away from the view to look at Harry. Have you?"

"No. I've done a little travelling, but it was all when I was tracking down Death Eaters for the Ministry. Mostly it was more sleeping out in tents in the middle of nowhere, but we made it into Rio once."

Severus smiled."I've never been to Rio. I've heard _stories_, but I can't imagine very many of them to actually be true. If the nightlife is as active and exotic as I've been led to believe, I can't imagine why you would have left."

Harry smirked. "Well, it was certainly _exotic_, but I was too preoccupied with finding Lucius Malfoy to enjoy much of it. I made it into a few cantinas, but mostly it was to ask questions- not to enjoy myself."

"Pity."

"Oh, I don't know." Harry rose to his feet, dropping the sheet to the patio chair and wrapping himself sinuously around the other man. "What if I would have met some tanned young Brazilian boy? I might have stayed, and then I never would have had the chance to do this." Harry wrapped his hand around Severus' neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

"Now that truly would have been a travesty." Severus wrapped his arms around Harry and held him to his chest. "I'm beginning to wonder how I ever did without you."

"Good," Harry said, "I don't want you to go thinking you could replace me."

"How's that?" Severus smirked. "Wanted: irritating young Gryffindor male with a savior complex, culinary skills a must, clothing optional."

"Something like that."

"Ah well, I've seen the sort of men coming out of Gryffindor lately. I think I got the pick of the litter. I would want to get the proper vintage after all, and Thomas isn't really my type, Finnigan's accent is atrocious, like Draco, I don't date _Weasleys_, and if I tried to bicker with Longbottom I think the poor boy would die of fright. So, you see, I'm stuck with you." He kissed the top of Harry's head. "Do you want to order breakfast in, or should we go out. The conference is going to start in a few hours.

"Let's go out," Harry suggested. "I want to see a bit of China before we have to work."

"Are you going to go like that, or do you want to get dressed first?"

Harry pretended to consider it for a moment and sighed. "Suppose I better get dressed, wouldn't want to give the bellboy any ideas."

Severus chuckled and they both went back inside to get ready.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry decided that Severus' Potions colleagues were about the dullest people in the whole world. The conference was being held in a large room off the lobby of the hotel. There were a number of lectures scheduled to begin a little later, but they were meant to mingle with the other Potions experts over light hors d-oeuvres beforehand. He trailed around at Severus' arm, only half-listening to conversations that he mostly didn't understand anyway.

"Who's your new man, Severus?" the incredibly tall South American wizard in burnt-orange robes that they were talking to asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have introduced you. This is Harry Potter," he gestured to Harry. "Harry this is Alonzo Valora."

"Pleased to meet you," Harry said, holding out a hand to shake. Alonzo shook it, all the while staring at Harry's forehead, and Harry realized that he knew exactly how women with big breasts must feel- no one ever looked him in the eyes.

"You've certainly done well for yourself then," Alonzo said, leering at Harry as he addressed Snape. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you here. You don't usually leave your precious _school_ long enough to attend one of our little gatherings. It's a pity. You're so very talented, and you waste it all teaching _children_ who can't possible appreciate your skill or benefit from it."

"I actually came so I could talk to you," Severus said, holding back a cutting retort only because he needed Alonzo's help.

"_Me_?" Now Alonzo favored Severus with a leer. "Aren't I the lucky one?"

Severus sighed, removed a vial of Slytherin's potion from the inside of his robes. It wasn't the actual vial, just a small sample of the potion. "I'm trying to determine what this is." Valora took it and held it up to the light to see the contents better.

"Now isn't _this_ curious." He lowered the vial to look at Severus. "Are you asking for my help?"

"Just your opinion," Severus said.

"How long will you be in Hong Kong?"

"Only until tonight," Severus answered. "We have to get back to my school. Will you run a few diagnostic experiments and owl me your results?"

"I suppose I can take a look," he slipped the vial into his pocket, "since it's for you."

"Be careful with it. It could be dangerous," Severus warned.

"I _do_ know how to handle myself around volatile potions," Valora said. "That is my specialty."

"And, trust me, that's the only reason I'm talking to you right now."

Alonzo grinned. "I'll owl you my findings sometime next week."

"Fine."

Severus moved on to continue circling the crowd with Harry in his wake.

"If we're trying to get him to help us," Harry asked when they were a safe distance away, "don't you think that you should have been a little nicer and less insulting?"

"Trust me," Severus said in a low tone, "I know how to deal with Valora."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that potions aren't the only volatile thing where Alonzo's concerned."

"I'm not sure I know what that means."

Severus brushed it off as they came up to a little wrinkled old Chinese man with a girl attending him who was almost as short as he was. Severus bowed low to him, bending at the waist so that his long hair all but brushed the floor.

Harry watched their body language as they began to converse in long-winded bursts of hurried Chinese. He didn't understand a word of it of course, but he could tell by the way that Severus was acting that he respected the funny little Asian man. He spoke to him almost reverently at first. Then, as their conversation progressed, his speech became more animated. He gestured emphatically, speaking in rapid-fire Chinese. Halfway through the conversation, with Harry standing awkwardly to one side, the girl looked away from Severus and the old man and gave Harry a little smile.

When they bid the man and the girl farewell, Severus bowed low again, and the wrinkled little man clasped both of Severus' hands in his and said something in a solemn tone barely above a whisper.

As they continued on through the crowd thronging the auditorium, Harry leaned into Severus.

"I don't think I've ever seen you fawn over anyone before," Harry said, and he could feel Severus stiffen beside him.

"Few enough people deserve my admiration. Don't worry; you won't see it again anytime soon. Master Tekesui is a genius. He's one of the few who qualify for my fawning."

Harry smiled. "I didn't know that you spoke Chinese."

"The foundation of Potions was based in China. A translation charm is good for some things, but the finer details are often lost."

Harry nodded. "I don't think I've ever heard Chinese sound quite so sexy."

This earned him a slight curl of a smile.

Severus dragged him around to talk to a few more people before there was a soft chime in the lobby to indicate the beginning of the lectures and they were swept up in the current of people making their way into the auditorium.

They found seats near the back so that they could sit alone. Severus was anti-social by nature, and even surrounded by colleagues, respected or otherwise, he seemed to have had his fill of forced socialization. Harry didn't mind; he had zero desire to continue his futile attempt to glean any meaning from Severus' conversations.

Harry was beginning to doze off. Some French Potion's Master was presenting a paper on an experimental potion that Harry had never heard of before. It was supposed to protect the drinker from accidental, or intentional, transfiguration. There were obvious defensive applications, but as much as Harry tried to be interested he just couldn't seem to keep it up for very long. The wizard presenting kept stumbling over his words and breaking off into French.

The wizard had finished presenting his findings and moved on to some Q&A. Harry hadn't been paying attention at all for the last few minutes when Severus suddenly stood and said, "Did you do any of the necessary preliminary research for this experiment, or did you think that if you just skipped over that part, none of us would notice?"

The French wizard gaped at him for a moment, but before he could come up with a response, Severus continued.

"If you had done the necessary research, you might have saved yourself some time. Aconite and faerie blood are incompatible. Each renders the other inert, and therefore your potion is useless."

There was a bit of muttering around the room.

The presenter muttered something under his breath in French and flushed as everyone stared waiting for his response.

"Mr. Snape, it is Snape isn't it?" he asked.

Severus inclined his head.

"Well, Mr. Snape, I can understand how it may appear that way with only a preliminary overview of my experiment, but if you read my paper, I'm sure it will clear up your concerns."

"I've read it," Severus said, "and my only concern is how you manage to pass yourself off as some kind of expert when you clearly have no idea what you're doing."

"That's your opinion, Mr. Snape."

"You're right," Severus agreed. "It is, and I urge everyone here to take it into consideration. I'll guarantee that it holds a lot more weight than yours." Severus sat back down, before the presenter could make some other rebuttal.

Flustered, he thanked the audience for their attention and made a hasty retreat from the podium to some very sporadic applause.

"That wasn't very nice," Harry pointed out.

"That man is a moron," Severus said. "I certainly hope this conference has higher minds to offer us than that."

"Are you going to present something?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Why not."

"Because I've been too busy trying to hold the school together at the seams in the aftermath of the war and protecting students from invisible manifestations of dead dragons to do much research in my chosen field."

"It was just the one dragon, Sev."

"Yes, well, every spare moment I have lately seems to be put to better use entertaining you in bed."

"Or bathtub."

"Or bathtub," Severus agreed.

"Or sofa."

"Or sofa."

"Or shower," Harry added.

"Or shower."

"Or the kitchen table."

"Yes," Severus agreed, "the kitchen table as well."

"And that one time on your desk."

"Anywhere, really, Harry, the location doesn't matter."

"Am I taking up too much of your time?" Harry asked. "Would you rather be researching experimental potions?"

"Merlin, no," Severus gasped out. "I'll just be happy when things back at school settle down a bit."

"You've spent practically your whole life at Hogwarts, when have you ever known it to be a quiet peaceful place?"

"Point taken."

xXxXxXxXxXx

By the time they made it back to their room, after a day spent listening to witches and wizards (most of whom Severus said were idiots) lecture about topics Harry barely understood, all he wanted to do was curl up in bed and go to sleep. Instead they packed up their things, checked out at the front desk, and had to endure another intercontinental floo trip before making the trek from Hogsmede up to the castle.

They barely made it through the door before McGonagall descended upon them like a banshee.

"I hope you enjoyed your romantic weekend," she hissed. "Meanwhile, you've left me to handle the Halloween arrangements all alone. Kinsley has been breathing down my throat all weekend. He wanted to know where you were, and I couldn't tell him because you neglected to tell _me_. What was I supposed to say, that you'd absconded with Harry Potter? How well do you suppose that would have gone over?"

"We were at a Potion's conference in Hong Kong, Minerva. It was a business trip- nothing untoward."

"Why would you bring Harry to a _Potions_ conference?"

"Oi," Harry said indignantly. "I'm standing right here. Why does everyone think I'm so rubbish at Potions?"

"Because you are," Severus reminded him.

"Only because I had the worst bloody teacher on the whole planet," Harry retorted.

"Strange then that your aptitude should improve only by my direct unauthorized tutelage," Severus remarked.

"Wanker," Harry muttered.

Severus grinned and turned his attention back to Minerva. "In any case, I went to the conference to meet with a contact of mine who was attending. The meeting was in regards to some research Harry and I are doing into the Damian Warrick problem. It was only appropriate that he should accompany me."

"How very convenient."

"Yes, I thought so. Potter's arse makes for a very pleasant distraction."

"Standing _right_ HERE!" Harry reminded.

"Yes, yes," Severus dismissed. "Did Minister Shacklebolt mention what he wanted?"

"He said that it was private business that didn't concern me. I told him that if it concerns the school, it concerns me, and he said that it was between the two of you."

"Very well, he's probably come up with some new way to convince me to go along with his plans for a summer program. How are the Halloween preparations coming along then?"

"Mostly finished," Minerva answered, and they saw the full evidence of that as they progressed into the Great Hall.

"The house elves need you to sign off on the menu. I have a list of local bands for you to choose from for the ball. The Bloody Baron needs to talk to you about the ghosts' private festivities, and, you need to decide which years will be allowed to attend the ball this year."

"Let them all come," Harry suggested.

"That's an option," McGonagall said, "but allowing the younger students to attend gives the evening a different tone."

"How about a compromise then?" Harry suggested. "Let the younger students stay until ten o'clock, maybe first through fourth years, and then it will just be the older students until midnight."

"Fine," Severus agreed. "Send the Bloody Baron and a list of the bands up to my office." He turned and walked out of the hall, Harry trailing in his wake.

They parted ways in the hallway, exchanging a brief kiss beneath the watchful eye of Dumbledore before returning to their rooms to unpack.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry slumped down onto the sofa. He sat there very still for a moment, letting out a long sigh of contentment; China had been wonderful, but he was glad to be home. Drawing upon past mistakes, he made sure to renew the connection with the castle right away.

"Did I miss anything interesting?" Harry asked once he felt Hogwarts' presence in his mind.

There was a moment of consideration. Then Harry was presented with a vision of the Slytherin common room. Damian was just returning with his heaping armful of food from the kitchens. There were a couple dozen students waiting in the common room, mostly second and third years but a few older students as well. There was a raised cheer as Damian let the food drop onto the low tea table near one of the sofas.

"Well, good for him," Harry said. "That boy could use some house popularity, even if it is earned by nicking food from the kitchens." Harry rose from the sofa and went into his bedroom. "Have you been looking after him then?" Harry asked.

The castle gave him a sense of affirmation.

"Good."

There was an inquisitive nudge from the castle and he was presented with a vision of Severus and himself leaving the grounds.

"How was our trip? Mostly good, I guess, but the conference was really boring. Hopefully Severus' Potions expert will be able to tell us something about Slytherin's potion. I'm not sure what that would prove, but I'd feel better having all the pieces of the puzzle. You still don't know anything about it? You can't think of what it could be for?"

There wasn't an answer. The castle pulled away from him a little, not completely, but it was a bit like talking to someone and then having them leave the room.

"Fine then," Harry said. "Suit yourself, but I've been living here long enough that you ought to know that I always figure it out in the end anyway."

Harry unpacked his things, left his dirty laundry out where the house elves could find it, and crossed the hall to Severus' office. The Bloody Baron was floating near the end of Severus' desk when Harry got off the staircase. It was disconcerting the way the ghost's eyes seemed to cast over him like a wash of cold air, then the Bloody Baron turned his attention back to Severus.

"We'll do a quick glide through the Great Hall for the feast, but then we want one of the larger dungeons for our own Halloween gathering. There are ghosts coming from the surrounding villages."

"That will be fine," Severus agreed.

"Thank you, Headmaster," the Bloody Baron glanced back at Harry again. "I've heard that you've taken Potter as your consort."

"Yes," Severus admitted carefully.

"Interesting," the Bloody Baron said it in a tone like wind rustling through frozen branches in the dead of night. Then he turned and floated out of the room through a side wall.

"He still scares the shite out of me," Harry confided as he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Severus' desk.

"What are you doing here?" Severus asked. "I thought you were tired."

Harry stifled a yawn. "I am."

"Then why aren't you in bed?"

"I'm waiting for you."

Severus glanced at his watch. "It's not even four yet. I'm going to try to stay awake until eight, at least. If you're tired, you should go to bed now."

"I'll wait," Harry said. He yawned again.

Severus sighed. "Come here."

Harry hoisted himself up and crossed around to the other side of the desk. Severus reached an arm up around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. It was a short one, a few seconds maybe, mouths slightly open, no tongue. Severus was the one to break it off. Then he picked up his wand and waved it at the chairs before his desk, transfiguring them into a sofa, another wave moved it out of the way against the side wall.

"Go lie down and take a nap while I finish this paperwork and meet with a few other people."

"You're a really good boyfriend, you know," Harry said, bending over to kiss him on the cheek, before he threw himself down on the sofa.

"Call me your boyfriend again, and I'll chain you to the bed to ensure that no one ever hears you refer to me as such."

"I can't call you my boyfriend?"

"Certainly not," Severus said, picking up his quill to start on some of the paperwork. "It puts me in mind of poxy fourth-years."

"What should I call you then?"

"My name is Severus."

"You know that's not what I meant."

Severus sighed and set down his quill. "Your lover I suppose, or your partner if you like."

"The Bloody Baron said that I was your consort."

"That's a little dated," Severus said, "but preferable to boyfriend."

"Hmm." Harry wiggled around on the sofa, getting comfortable, and pillowed his head in his arms. "I kind of like it. You're a good consort, Sev."

"Glad to hear that I meet with your approval. Now, shut up and go to sleep." Severus smiled to himself as he returned to his paperwork.

Harry was snoring softly when Severus finally finished up with his backlog of things that needed to be signed or approved. He booked a band that had played a few times at the school in the past; the bassist had been one of his better students. He let out a yawn of his own and glanced at his watch: barely going on six.

"Dobby," he said quietly, trying not to wake Harry.

There was a loud pop as the elf materialized into the room, but Harry didn't seem to notice. "What is the headmaster needing?" Dobby asked in a shrill tone that seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet room.

"Quietly, Dobby," Severus whispered. "Harry is sleeping."

Dobby glanced around the room and caught sight of his personal hero lying asleep on the sofa in a puddle of his own drool. His face morphed into a mask of guilt-ridden agony, and he began to wring his hands.

"It's alright, Dobby," Severus assured quickly. "You didn't wake him, but we should whisper now, alright?"

Dobby clamped his hands over his mouth and nodded.

"Fine." Severus held out a sheet of parchment. "This is the menu for the Halloween feast. I haven't made any changes. Tell Grezzle that he really doesn't need to clear it through me. He can make up the menu himself in the future; he doesn't need my authorization."

Dobby took the parchment and folded it carefully, nodding to acknowledge that he understood Severus, but still not daring to speak.

"Also, you need to put out a spread for the ghosts in one of the large dungeons. They're having a gathering on Halloween, so you need to put the food out now so that it has time to rot before the party."

Dobby nodded again.

"That's all," Severus said. "Thank you."

Dobby raised his hand to snap his fingers and disapparate, but before he got that far his eyes widened with sudden recognition, and he lowered his hand quickly and scurried out of the room by means of the staircase so that he wouldn't wake Harry.

Severus shook his head, and got to his feet, walking over to the side of the couch. He waved his wand to expand the sofa to make room for himself. Miraculously, Harry didn't even twitch in his sleep, just continued to snore. Severus carefully climbed onto the sofa next to Harry, wrapped an arm around him, and was asleep in moments.

xXxXxXxXxXx

The week went by in a blur, and, before you could blink, it was October 31st. The students were completely unmanageable all day, breaking off into conversations over dates and costumes every time there was the slightest lull in class work. Finally, Harry had to just give in and allow his students some free study time for all of his classes: which amounted to a lot of inane chatter and not a lot of actual study being done. Harry could almost understand why Severus had always been so cross when he was teaching.

He was glad when he could finally dismiss the last class of the day and return to the sanctuary of his own rooms.

Of course, Harry had to come up with a costume for the ball as well. It wasn't mandatory that the teachers dress up, but Harry didn't see anything wrong with showing a little holiday spirit. He just couldn't come up with anything really good to go as. He'd toyed with the idea of dressing up as a lion earlier in the day, but, now that it came right down to it, he dismissed the idea.

_Other magical species were always popular._ He could go as a faerie just to be ironical. _But no… Something else then…_ He could go as a superhero. He'd wanted to be batman when he was a child, but his aunt and uncle wouldn't let him go out with his cousin. Instead he was forced to keep an eye on the house. They didn't give out candy- instead he was forced to stay very quiet, keep the lights out, and watch for people trying to play pranks on the house. Somehow batman wasn't quite what he wanted. He wanted something that would peak Severus' interest. This led him down a whole new list of possibilities, none of which were appropriate for a school ball.

Then, suddenly, it came to him. Grinning, he went to his wardrobe and found one of his muggle suits. Pulling out his wand, he changed the color to a medium blue. He found a red tie, a white button-down shirt, a brown overcoat, and a pair of converse high-tops. He laid these things out on the bed and went into the kitchen. He dug around in the drawer that seemed to attract anything that didn't really belong anywhere until he found what he was looking for: a plain muggle screwdriver. A few spells and a muttered, "this could be more sonic," and it was nearly unrecognizable. He added this to the bed and went on into the bathroom, examining his hair. He tousled it a bit, making it slightly messier than usual, and cast a glamour to change the color to a lighter medium brown. For the final touch, he removed his glasses and, squinting, cast a spell to change them into a more modern rectangular shape.

Satisfied, Harry got dressed and went down to the Great Hall.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"What the hell are you supposed to be, Malfoy?"

Draco was dressed in coat and tails and a top hat, with a stuffed rabbit under one arm.

"I'm a muggle magician," he said, brandishing his white-tipped black wand at Harry. "What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm the Doctor," Harry said confidently, spinning around on the toes of his converse-clad feet to show off his really fantastic coat.

"You're a doctor?" Draco asked, frowning.

"No, I'm _the_ Doctor," Harry clarified.

"Whatever. You look like a ponce."

Harry shrugged, looking around the Great Hall. "Where's Severus?"

"He didn't come with you?"

"Nope, he told me to meet him down here."

As if summoned by his name, Severus chose that moment to sweep elegantly down the grand staircase. He strode across the hall, ignoring anything else, until he was standing before Harry. He couldn't stop the grin that escaped as he took in Harry's costume choice.

"You didn't dress up," Harry pouted.

"Had I known that you intended to go as the Doctor, I might have come up with an appropriate accompaniment. Nevertheless, I _am_ in costume."

Harry scrutinized him for a moment. "You are not," he accused.

Draco was looking at him too. "Maybe he's going as a bat," he ventured finally after some consideration.

Severus scowled at him.

"Well, come on, then," Harry prompted. "What are you supposed to be?"

Severus smirked, and lifted up a sheet of his long black hair to reveal a small lightning bolt that he'd drawn on his forehead, under his hair where no one could see it. "I'm the boy who lived, obviously," he deadpanned.

Harry punched him in the arm. "That's not funny."

But the potency of this statement was somewhat diminished as Draco doubled-over laughing.

"You'd better not show that to anyone else," Harry threatened.

"Oh come…on,… Potter," Draco stuttered out as he tried to get his laughter under control. "Imitation is… the highest form of… flattery." Draco broke off again, turning away as tears had begun to roll down his cheeks.

Severus was fighting off a laugh of his own as he observed the livid look on Harry's face. "Sorry," he said finally, when Harry's anger didn't diminish. "I thought you would think it was funny."

"Yeah, well I don't." Harry said. "Anyway, you've done it all wrong."

"Well, I wasn't going to parade around in my old school robes; they're the wrong house colors anyway."

"Not that," Harry said, shaking his head. He moved aside his fringe and pointed to his own forehead. "My scar is on the other side, Sev."

This sent Draco into another fit of laugher, and Harry finally managed a small smile. "Oh, all right then," he said, "but I'll want proper reparations later."

"Dressed like that," Severus said approvingly, "you can have anything you want."

Draco frowned. "A funny coat and floppy hair, is that what does it for you?"

"I have a sonic screwdriver too," Harry said, pulling it out and pointing it at Draco. He depressed the button on the side and it lit up on the end and made a high pitched noise.

Severus smirked and covertly kissed Harry on the cheek. "I have to go see if the band needs anything to get set up. Keep an eye on Draco." He strode off.

Draco frowned at Harry, and Harry put his screwdriver back in his pocket. "So, is your mystery girlfriend going to show up at some point, or are you going stag tonight?"

Draco just scowled at him in response.

"It is a _girl_friend? I don't mean to presume…"

"Yes Potter, despite what you may have heard, I don't actually fancy _men._"

"Your loss," Harry said. "You really have no idea what you're missing out on."

"I didn't say that I've never had sex with a man, just that I don't really fancy them."

Harry blinked a little in surprise. "Really?"

Draco waved it off. "I was drunk; he was very pretty; it was an honest mistake."

Harry snorted. "Well, is she going to be here then- your girlfriend?"

"I don't have a date tonight," Draco said, "so your curiosity is just going to have to remain unsatisfied."

Severus returned then. He sighed. "Well, the students will be here any moment. Are you two ready for this?"

"I'm the Doctor," Harry said, grinning, "I'm ready for anything."

"What, just cause you have a metal tube that lights up and whistles?" Draco asked.

"It doesn't whistle; it's _sonic_."

"Anyway," Severus said, "I'm the brat who lived; I'm twice as reckless and self sacrificing as the Doctor."

"Yeah, well I have a time machine… spaceship… a time machine/spaceship," Harry said.

"A TARDIS," Severus offered.

"Yep, blue box, travels through time and relative dimensions in space, makes this whooshing noise."

"Parked outside is it?" Severus asked. "You might want to go hide in it now. Here they come."

The students came in like a multi-colored tidal wave. The normal orderly stream of black was replaced by hundreds of excited students in an array of different costumes. Quidditch players were always a popular choice. The favored teams were all represented, and there were even a few students wearing the bright orange of the Chudley Cannons. Harry caught sight of Ginny in the dark green robes of the Holyhead Harpies; there had been a rumor going around that she'd already been scouted for the team this year, but Harry didn't know if there was any truth in it. There were the traditional Halloween costumes as well: ghosts, and vampires, and zombies, and werewolves, skeletons, and goblins, and, yes, even a few faeries.

Harry stayed close to Severus as the student flowed in and started congregating around the small round tables that covered most of the hall, save the dance floor. The house tables had been removed from the hall completely to make room, but the staff table remained where it was, and Harry, Severus, and Draco quickly retreated to the safety of the high table's raised dais.

"I can't believe that Colin Creevey is dressed like a Chudley Cannon," Draco said, pointing to the bright orange boy.

Harry snorted, and sought out Ginny's equally orange hair, pointing her out. "Ginny is a Harpie. There's a rumor going around that they've been talking to her about taking a position on the team; do you know if that's true?"

Draco gave Harry a funny look and shrugged offhandedly. "They sent a scout by to watch practice last week, but how the hell do I know if she's had an actual offer?"

Harry nodded. "She always _did_ look good on a broom."

"Having regrets?" Severus asked, trying to sound neutral.

Harry turned to him and smirked. "You don't hide jealousy very well, Sev."

Severus scowled.

"I've been adopted now, remember?" Harry asked. "That makes Ginny my sister. Not only that, she's a girl. You should be more worried about me running off with Malfoy." Draco made a gagging noise, and Harry smirked. "See? No worries."

Severus' scowl faded, but didn't disappear completely; he'd begun to eye Draco mistrustfully. Harry noticed, but didn't say anything. He shouldn't have used Malfoy as an example- should have chosen Colin Creevey instead… or Dobby. He just didn't understand why everyone thought that he and Draco Malfoy would end up in bed together. _Not bloody likely_.

The music started up then, not fast dance music or romantic, just some nice background noise as dinner appeared on their plates.

McGonagall joined them after a moment. Harry didn't recognize her at first- her transfiguration skills had been put to good work. She'd given herself horns. Her hair, normally curled tightly into a bun at the back of her head, was let down in curly chestnut ringlets over her shoulders. She wore a bolero jacket that seemed to be made of woven flowers over a loose-fitting white silk shirt. Her lower half had been transfigured into that of a goat. For all of this, her expression was as stern as ever.

"Nice costume Mr. Malfoy, very clever," she said, taking her usual seat on the other side of Severus, "and, I'm sorry Potter, but I'm not entirely sure what you're supposed to be."

Harry sighed. "I'm the Doctor," he said, in a tone that clearly said he'd resigned himself to explaining it for the rest of the night.

"You're a doctor?"

"I'm _the_ Doctor."

"Show her your whistling screwdriver," Draco prompted.

"It's _sonic_," Harry ground out through gritted teeth.

McGonagall looked at them both for a moment, not saying anything, and turned her attention to Severus. "And no costume again this year, Severus?" Her tone was disapproving.

Severus gave Harry a sidelong look, and decided that he'd best leave his hair right where it was. Instead, he grabbed a biscuit off a plate on the table, and transfigured it into a small key on a plain ring. He showed it to McGonagall. "There, TARDIS key. I'm the Doctor's companion."

McGonagall regarded him silently for a moment, then turned her attention to her dinner.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Draco said, beginning to eat as well.

Severus looked at Harry, raising an eyebrow in silent inquiry. Harry smirked at him, and Severus nodded, smiling to himself as he gave over to his own dinner.

Harry glanced over the students, for once actually mingling together between the houses, and smiled too.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Dinner was spent in pleasant conversation, picking away steadily at enough food to feed several armies- as usual the house elves had outdone themselves. The food was eventually replaced with desserts and snacks, and the students made their way out onto the dance floor, separating into couples or small groups.

"I guess I can't ask you to dance," Harry leaned over to whisper in Severus' ear. "Too bad, I'd love to see the look on everyone's face."

"You do make a tempting argument," Severus said.

"Yeah," Harry sighed longingly, "we'd have to obliviate all the students afterward though. I'm not sure it's worth the effort."

Ginny walked up to the staff table then. The green of her robes set off her hair nicely. If she was recruited by the Harpies, she'd certainly cast a very striking image on a broomstick- not to mention when she was crushing the opposition.

She stepped up onto the dais so that she stood level with them on the other side of the table. She looked between Severus and Draco, smiling. "Do you mind if I steal Harry away for a dance?"

Harry looked to Severus, taking in the barely concealed scowl.

"Just one," Harry said, quiet enough that no one else could hear. "I'll be right back."

Harry rounded the table, took Ginny by the hand, and led her out onto the dance floor. "I wish you hadn't done that," Harry said as he pulled her to him at a very conservative distance.

Ginny glanced back at the head table. "He doesn't look very happy."

Harry glanced up to see Severus scowling at him, and looked back at Ginny. "They've told you then."

"Who?" Ginny asked,"told me what?"

Harry frowned. "Oh, I guess not. Never mind then." He spun her and pulled her back to him, a little closer now, but still a respectable brotherly sort of distance. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah, it'd be better if I had a date," Ginny answered.

"Lee couldn't come?"

Ginny shook her head. "I didn't ask him."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better. I don't really have a date either," Harry said. Severus was there, of course, but they couldn't be seen as being together, so for all intents and purposes he was single tonight also.

"I guess we'll just have to dance with each other then." Ginny said, leaning back as Harry dipped her. "What are you, anyway- the costume, I mean?"

"I'm the Doctor," Harry admitted. "It's a muggle thing, don't ask."

"Oh, well, I like the coat."

"What about you. Malfoy said you had a scout from the Harpies at practice the other day. Are the robes indicative of anything?"

Ginny grinned. "I signed a contract last weekend. Don't tell Ron though. I'm still trying to figure out a way to break it to mum."

"She won't be happy?"

"About that, and a few other things, but it's my life, and she'll get over it eventually." The music ended then, and she let go of Harry. "Thanks for the dance, Harry. I better get back," she said and set out across the crowd.

Harry turned around to go back to the staff table and practically ran over Damian Warrick. "Oh, hey there Mr. Warrick," he greeted, stepping back to look at the boy. He had a turban around his head and wore a white linen tunic and breeches with gold hemming. He had a wooden flute in one hand and Clotho was curled around his arm.

"_Hello Clotho,_" Harry greeted the snake.

" _Hello_," Clotho responded, uncurling himself to slither down Damian's arm.

"Are you meant to be a snake-charmer?" Harry asked.

Damian nodded. "Would you mind taking Clotho for a while, though? Laina asked me to dance, but she'd scared of snakes."

"Sure, I'll take him for a while," Harry agreed, holding out his hand for Clotho. "_Do you want to sit with me for a while_?"

"_Snakes don't sit,_" Clotho said, but slithered onto Harry's hand and curled around his wrist anyway.

"Have fun," Harry told Damian. "Just come get him when you want him back."

Harry returned to the staff table, and left Damian to go dance with his little Ravenclaw friend.

"You seem to have acquired a snake," Severus said when Harry sat back down.

"Very observant." Harry lowered his hand to the table, and Clotho slithered down to curl around a bowl of warm biscuits. "Damian came as a snake-charmer, but his date is afraid of Clotho."

"He's eleven," Draco said. "Eleven-year-olds do not have dates."

"Fine, the girl he's dancing with." Harry pointed to where Damian was dancing with a little blond girl dressed like a Greek goddess- though Harry wasn't sure which one.

Draco nodded approvingly. "Our little snake is quite the Casanova."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry ended up spending half the night translating a philosophical discussion between Clotho and Severus. He was more than ready to be rid of the snake when the big clock at the end of the hall chimed ten-o-clock, and Severus made an announcement to dismiss the younger students.

When Damian didn't show up to recollect Clotho, Harry scanned the crowd looking for him, but it seemed that Damian had forgotten the snake and already returned to his dormitory. Harry caught a fourth year Slytherin who was trying to blend in with some older students to stay at the party. He handed Clotho off to her and sent her back to the dungeons.

The attitude of the party changed significantly as the younger students were sent off to bed. The volume of the music raised a few decibels, and it began to speed up. The older students seemed to go wild on the dance floor, jumping up and down and waving their arms. Harry and Severus exchanged glances, and rose from the table to go outside.

It hadn't started snowing yet, but the air outside was cold enough to discourage all but the most ardent couples. Severus seemed to enjoy catching them in the act and sending them back inside. Soon they were completely alone. Severus cast a charm to create a warm bubble of air around them.

"No TARDIS," Severus said, looking around.

"Too bad," Harry said. "It would be a good place to sneak away for a snog."

"Or a shag," Severus suggested."

"Well," Harry grinned. "In that case, come with me." He took Severus hand and led him to the edge of the garden where there was a small shed that held shovels and gardening tools. Harry pulled out his wand and, after a few minutes, transfigured the shed into a passable blue police call box.

Severus grinned and opened the door, then looked at Harry with feigned disappointment. "It's the same size on the inside."

Harry cast an expansion charm and banished the gardening implements. "There, now it's bigger on the inside."

"Doesn't travel through time and space though," Severus pointed out.

"I thought you wanted to shag."

"Oh right," Severus grabbed Harry by the collar and pulled him into the box, locking and warding the door after them.

Harry pushed Severus down onto the floor, and Severus' breath left him in an "ooph."

"Careful," he said breathlessly. "Be gentle with me."

"Trust me," Harry said, smirking, "I'm the Doctor." He grabbed Severus' collar again and pulled him into a kiss.

Severus seemed to melt into him. He didn't fight for control of the kiss, just let Harry take him. Harry explored the familiar contours of Severus' mouth as he worked on the buttons of his robe. He ran out of buttons he could reach and finally released Severus from the kiss.

"I'm buying you new robes with less buttons," he growled out angrily, as he straddled Severus and unbuttoned them as quickly as he could.

"You don't actually have to get me completely naked in order to have sex," Severus pointed out, sitting up a little so that Harry could pull his robes off over his shoulders.

"Where's the fun in that?" Harry loosened his tie and unbuttoned his top button, before turning his attention to Severus' trousers.

Severus just laid back and let Harry undress him. "It kind of defeats the point of having a quickie if you turn it into a big production."

"You could help," Harry suggested, yanking down Severus' trousers. "Anyway, who said this was going to be quick?"

Harry stood up, leaving Severus lying there in his undershirt and pants. He stripped off the overcoat and pulled his shirt off over his head. Severus got up onto his knees and grabbed Harry around the hips, pulling him forward until he had his nose pressed against the bulge in Harry's trousers.

Harry let his eyes flutter shut and he rocked back on his heels. He unbuckled his belt and undid his trousers, letting them fall loose around his hips. Severus pulled them down the rest of the way and slid Harry's pants off over his hips, until both were caught around Harry's ankles. Harry gasped as Severus ran his tongue around the head of his cock and swallowed around him.

"Oh!" Harry gasped. He grabbed Severus' shoulders to steady himself. "You really are very good at that."

Severus sucked back on Harry's cock and let it slip from his mouth with a wet pop.

"I didn't say stop."

"We don't have long. We'll be missed," Severus said.

"Okay," Harry said and joined him on the floor, "but you owe me a blowjob later."

"I look forward to it." Severus pulled Harry down on top of him to lie on the floor. "Now I want to be taken by the Doctor before that damned satyr comes to pound down the door."

Harry chuckled. "I don't have any lube," he said, pulling down Severus' pants.

"Fortunately for you, I come prepared." Severus reached over his head to his robes piled on the floor; he searched them for a moment until he found a vial of lubricant.

"I could have made you come unprepared," Harry boasted, taking the lube. He spread it over his finger, leaning over to kiss Severus as he slipped two fingers into his opening. He slipped his tongue between Severus' open lips and began pumping his cock, even as he added a third finger to his opening. Severus let out a low ragged moan, and Harry released his cock at the same time as he pulled out his fingers. Severus made a decidedly un-Snapeish mewling noise. Harry moved his hands over Severus' chest, grabbing firmly to his hips and sliding Severus' legs up over his shoulders.

"Now, Harry," Severus begged, panting. "Please."

"It's the Doctor," Harry reminded him as he thrust.

Severus seemed to fold in on himself as he shuddered in pleasure. Harry panted as he gripped Severus' hips and thrust in and out. He reached a hand between them and wrapped it around Severus' cock, pumping it as he pounded relentlessly into his lover, his partner, his consort, companion. Precome leaked from to tip and covered his hand. Harry stifled both of their moans in a needy kiss.

Harry came first, still pumping through his orgasm. Before he finished, he'd brought Severus off with him.

"I love you," Harry gasped as he collapsed onto Severus' chest.

Severus, breathing heavily, threaded his hand through Harry's glamoured brown hair and kissed his brow.

xXxXxXxXxXx

When Harry and Severus had righted themselves and returned to the Great Hall, the music had died down to a romantic song, and the groups of rabid students had given the floor over to the couples. Harry and Severus returned to the staff table and slumped into their seats.

At some point, Draco had gotten hold of a bottle of wine, and he poured each of them a glass upon their return. "Looks like you two have been enjoying yourselves," he commented dryly.

"Yes, thank you," Severus said, taking the offered glass.

Harry glanced at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise; it was already quarter to midnight. "Maybe too much," Harry said. "We've missed half the party."

"Better yet," Severus said.

They watched the students as the band played through a couple more fast songs, then half a dozen slow ones. Then Severus stood to his feet and cast an amplifying charm. "I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, tonight. You'll have the rest of the week and the weekend to recuperate, but now it's time to say goodnight to your friends and go to bed."

They had to send a few stragglers on their way, but within five minutes the hall was cleared.

"Not quite yet, gentlemen," Severus said, glancing up at the band who were beginning to unplug their instruments. "Can I have one more song?" He took Harry by the hand and led him to the center of the floor. "If I remember right, the Doctor is a very good dancer," he whispered into Harry's ear as he pulled him close.

Harry molded himself to Severus and allowed him to lead. "You're pretty good at this yourself."

"The Malfoy's throw a lot of balls," Severus explained.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Damian stood outside the Great Hall listening as the music stopped and the other students were sent back to the dorms. His arms were laden with more food from the kitchens. The Slytherins had a party of their own planned back in the common room, and Damian had been charged with procuring snacks and refreshments. He'd snuck away to the kitchens before the younger students were dismissed, but he'd had to wait until the Great Hall cleared out to sneak back through down to the dungeons.

He waited a few minutes to make sure everyone left before he reentered the Great Hall- just in time for the music to start back up again.

The hall was empty though, except for the playing band and Professor Potter and the Headmaster. They were dancing alone on the floor, under the enchanted ceiling, and for some reason Damian couldn't tear himself away. He stood in the doorway, arms laden with food, and just watched as they turned and spun elegantly across the dance floor.

Suddenly the image was replaced. It was no longer Harry and Severus dancing across the floor, it was Gryffindor and Slytherin. The tableau was a dead match. Slytherin holding Gryffindor to him, their bodies pressed close, as they danced alone in the massive hall under the canopy of enchanted stars.

Damian collapsed to the floor, food falling from his arms to land under and around him, doing little to cushion his fall on the cold stone floor.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Author's Note: This chapter was originally supposed to be a great deal longer, but, looking at what I have written in the master outline, we're talking another thirty or forty pages, so I decided to break things up a little differently. Anyway, I'm off work for the next month or so- tore my ACL at derby practice a while back, and I need surgery. I'm look at it as a little writing vacation; I'm planning on focusing on my original work, but you can expect another update in the next week or so. Sorry for the excessive Doctor Who references if that's not your thing. Will Parry said the fic was getting a little Doctor Who-ish. If it was, it wasn't intentional, but I figured… what the hell.

Challenge: I still haven't received a correct answer for the last one, so that still stands, but I'll add another anyway. The person who gives me the most creative answer for the riddle "why is a raven like a writing desk?" within the first five days of this posting gets a prize of the usual description.


	18. You're My Home

Author's Note: Well,… it's been awhile. I'm not going to make any promises to update again soon, because, honestly, I have no control over that. I do promise, as I have before, that I will finish this story eventually. It may take a while, but I won't abandon you. I just write the story when it comes to me, piece by piece, scene by scene, bit by torturous bit. I even know the ending. It's uncovering what happens between here and there that I'm not so sure about, and trying to force it isn't going to do anyone any favors. I've posted "Trust Me, I'm The Doctor" as a challenge response for AirElemental101. It's a companion piece to this- just a little Doctor Who fluff to go with the Halloween Ball bit. Here's the link: .net/s/7109254/1/Trust_me_Im_The_Doctor There won't be a challenge with this chapter, as I still owe ArsenicAngel a House fic and crazyasfite a Sherlock one. I haven't forgotten about you, but I figured you'd appreciate my posting this now more than waiting until I have those done too. Anyway, I'm getting long winded, so I hope everyone enjoys this and it's not too long before we all see each other again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Stole the bit of lyric for the chapter title from Billy Joel…. Yeah, you heard me, I stole it. Bless the benefactor. Peace and profit to his children.

Give Me Life

Chapter Eighteen

That's All Right My Love, 'Cause You're My Home

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus took in Harry's laughing form as he spun him on the dance floor and experienced a moment of true happiness. For just that once he wasn't worried about anyone seeing them, because how could they possibly look at Harry, laughing and so happy, and think that there was anything wrong with that. Severus drew him close, holding Harry's hand against his chest as they swayed back and forth to the music.

Harry looked up at him and smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling with delight.

"You're so beautiful," Severus said, reaching up to stroke a hand across Harry's face.

Harry looked down and away, not daring to meet Severus' eyes. He dropped the hand from Harry's face and wrapped his arm around his waist instead, sliding it in under his coat, and pulled Harry tight against his chest.

"I love you," Harry said, laying his head on Severus' shoulder. After a moment of silence as they continued to dance, Harry asked, "Aren't you going to say that you love me too?"

"Is there any doubt in your mind that I do?"

Harry shook his head against Severus' shoulder. Severus cupped the back of Harry's neck, planting a kiss on the top of his head, and breathing deep the scent of his hair. "I love you," he whispered.

The music stopped, but they continued to sway together for a moment longer. Then, reluctantly, they broke apart. "Thank you, gentlemen," Severus said to the band. "Biggs, if you just want to stop by Professor McGonagall's office, she has your payment."

Severus took Harry's arm to walk back to their rooms, and they turned to go. Suddenly, Harry stumbled, and Severus had to hold him up to keep him from falling to the floor. "Harry?" His face morphed with concern. "Harry, are you all right?"

Harry gasped for breath and gripped at Severus' shoulder to find his feet. When he'd regained control of himself, he turned and practically ran to the other end of the hall. Severus turned to follow after him, running himself when he saw Damian lying on the floor.

Harry shook him. "Damian! Damian?" Harry snapped his fingers in front of the boys face and propped him up into a sitting position against the wall.

Damian blinked his eyes into focus, looked up at Harry, and grinned. "You're a good dancer, Professor Potter."

"What are you even doing up here?" Harry asked. "You're supposed to be safe in bed."

Damian glanced aside at all the ruined food, and gave an apologetic smile.

Harry followed his glance and sighed. "You were down in the kitchens."

"Yes, sir," Damian admitted.

"The castle…" Harry trailed off, thinking. "Hogwarts said you had another vision, one it couldn't protect you from." Harry looked away from Damian to Severus. "I don't like this."

"It's okay," Damian said, getting to his feet. "It wasn't a bad vision. Just, when I saw you two dancing, I had a flash of Slytherin and Gryffindor doing the same thing."

"But the castle was shielding you; you shouldn't have seen anything," Harry said.

"Look," Damian said, patting himself, "I'm fine. It's no big deal. I'll just go off to bed now." He turned and started to walk out of the hall.

Harry wanted to stop him, but couldn't honestly think of a reason why. He obviously wasn't any the worse for wear. And Damian's life had been disrupted enough by his ability; there was no sense in disrupting it any further. So, Harry let him go, but the worry that had slowly been melting away for the last three weeks came back with a vengeance. He looked to Severus and saw that he was worried as well, though considerably better at hiding it.

"There's no sense in worrying about it tonight," Severus told him. "It's late, and we might as well wait for Valora's results before we do anything, anyway. You can try to fix the barrier with the castle in the morning; it may just be a matter of some slight alterations."

Harry nodded. "You're right. Of course you're right. You're always right."

"Good of you to finally admit it."

Harry rolled his eyes.

They were both mostly silent as they returned to their rooms, Harry's this time- never mind Dumbledore.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry cooked them breakfast the next morning in Severus' quarters and they spent a pleasant morning working on grading and administrative duties and discussing the Damian Warrick problem while they ate. Had they made it down to the Great Hall instead, their morning might not have been so enjoyable.

As it was, their post arrived a little late. Thankfully, they received Master Valora's findings, but they were lost among the deluge of other owls. The first batch of twenty-five or thirty took them completely by surprise, and they didn't have time to open any of the letters before another battery of owls assaulted the window. They spent the next twenty minutes sorting them all out and sending them on their way, and when they were finished they had a pile of letters several inches deep covering the entirety of the kitchen table.

They exchanged a glance as they stood side-by-side before the massive pile of post.

"This isn't good, is it?" Harry asked.

"I sincerely doubt it."

"Do you want to open the first one, or should I?"

"We could just banish them all," Severus suggested.

"Then we won't know what this is about."

"Don't be intentionally obtuse, Harry. You know full well what this is about."

Harry supposed he did, and Severus' suggestion of banishing all the letters had a certain appeal, but Harry was never one to hide from his problems. He sighed. "This was bound to happen sooner or later, Sev. We can't hide forever, might as well face it head-on."

"We could just write a scathing, form reply and have done with it."

"No, come on, let's just read some and get an idea of where we are." Harry took a chair and picked one of the letters addressed to him from the pile; he slit it open with his butter knife, but didn't unfold it immediately. "How did they find out, anyway?"

"This many letters," Severus said, gesturing over the pile. "It had to be the Prophet."

"Did you see the paper come in?" Harry asked.

"I didn't take it."

Harry unfolded the letter and began to read it to himself.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I meet the news of your relationship with Severus Snape with clear disbelief. It's not enough that the media sees fit to make up wild stories about you, now they have to print something so completely out of the realm of possibility that it's laughable. I, for one, think you've put up with it for long enough. You should consider taking legal action. This time the Daily Prophet has simply gone too far.

With sincere sympathy and admiration,

Diana Abernathy

"Yep," Harry said. "It was the Daily Prophet, all right. This one says that I should take legal action against them for printing something so obviously untrue."

Severus snorted and picked up one addressed to him.

Severus Snape,

Apparently your depravity knows no bounds. It's not enough that you've been left free after killing Albus Dumbledore, or that you have been allowed to retain his position. You should be locked away in a cell in Azkaban, not entrusted with the safekeeping of our children. You make me sick. You shouldn't be allowed to breath. You should have done the world a favor and died along with He Who Must Not Be Named.

Rot in Hell,

"I don't know who that one's from," Severus said, setting it down, "but they can't seem to make up their mind whether they want me dead or in prison."

Harry straightened his glasses and began to chew on his bottom lip with a perturbed look on his face. "Maybe we shouldn't read them, at least not until we've had a look at the Prophet." He surveyed the table. "There aren't any howlers."

"They would never send a howler to you; they love you," Severus said. "And I suspect that they're still sufficiently afraid of me to not want to risk it. You can't send an unaddressed howler."

"This is awful," Harry said. "What are we going to do?"

"Actually, I think it's flattering. I was worried that once word got out that I'd fallen for a Gryffindor, it would ruin my reputation. If they think I've coerced you, my pariah status remains intact."

"Be serious."

Severus folded his arms over his chest. "What are you worried about. You've been through this sort of thing before."

"It wasn't true before."

"Your sycophants don't seem to think that it's true this time either." Severus gestured to Harry's opened letter. "You may continue reading them, if you wish, but I think I've seen enough." He rose from his chair and left the kitchen, walking through his private quarters and into his office.

He barely had time to sit down at his desk and sift through the stack of papers that needed his attention before Harry followed him into the office. He had a handful of letters clutched despondently in his hand. "Are you mad at me?" he asked, hardly more than a whisper. He didn't quite meet Severus' eyes.

"There is nothing to be angry about, and, even if there was, this isn't your fault. We tried to hide our relationship, and we failed. I'm used to people hating me. It's not an issue."

"I don't want people to hate you."

"And what could you possibly do to change their minds?" Severus sighed. "As much as it pains me to admit it, I think Albus was right. We shouldn't have tried to hide it in the first place."

"Well, now that it's out in the open, what do you want to do?"

"I'll leave that up to you. It's your untarnished reputation that needs protecting, not mine."

"I don't give a damn about my reputation, and if you're not angry you sure are acting like it." Harry snapped.

There was a moment of silence, both men glaring at each other, and then Severus broke. He looked away, eyes focused on the top of his desk, and seemed to shake all over. "If you're going to leave me, I'd rather you didn't draw it out. There's no need to be sentimental. I can make arrangements to limit our contact to a purely professional basis."

Harry was across the room wrapping his arms around Severus in an instant. "I'm not going to leave you. I love you. I don't care what the rest of the world thinks; it's my life, and I want to spend it with you."

Severus held Harry tight to his chest, not trusting himself to speak. He let his relief wash over him. He'd been trying to make it easy for Harry to walk away. There was no reason for Harry to love him, and every reason for Harry to leave. It would have broken him to watch his love go, but he'd been broken before. He knew he should be pushing him away. It was in Harry's best interests to go. If he really loved him, he would make him go, but he just didn't have the strength to do that. In the end, he was just a selfish old Slytherin, and he held onto Harry as tightly as he dared, clenching his teeth with repressed emotion.

That's how Draco and Minerva found them. They stood in the doorway and looked at each other, not sure how or if they should interrupt. Finally, Draco cleared his throat. "I guess you've heard then?"

Severus looked up at them over Harry's shoulder, still not releasing Harry from his embrace, but he didn't seem to want to be free of it anytime soon anyway. "Is that the paper?" he asked, glancing to where Draco had it folded beneath his arm.

"Yes, but I'm not sure you should read it."

"He's going to see it sooner or later, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall admonished. "You might as well hand it over."

Reluctantly, Severus released Harry and took the paper. He unfolded it to see a picture of Harry and himself whirling around on the dance floor, too wrapped up in each other to be bothered with him staring at them. Harry read over his shoulder as he began to scan the article. He was already cursing inwardly.

xXx

Homosexual Hanky-panky at Hogwarts?

By: Rita Skeeter

What exactly has the boy who lived been doing since his victory over You-Know-Who? The answer is a simple one, though not one anyone could have guessed: Severus Snape. That's right, dear readers, Harry Potter is in a secret relationship with recently exonerated ex-Death Eater and Hogwarts Headmaster Severus Snape.

Snape's full pardon from the Ministry came as a direct result of Potter's personal testimony to Snape's true loyalties, and the young savior of the wizarding world began teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts this term. Which raises the question of just how long this illicit and highly inappropriate relationship has been going on, and what exactly is the nature of Mr. Potter's employment at Hogwarts? From the photographs taken at last evening's Halloween Ball, it seems clear that the relationship is an intimate one.

This new turn in the life of wizarding Britain's most famous young wizard was brought to my attention when a reliable source, who wishes to remain nameless for his/her own safety, saw the two kissing at a recent potion's conference held in Hong Kong. The two spent the evening before the start of the conference in the penthouse suite of the most exclusive hotel in the wizarding district of Hong Kong. What they got up to hardly needs pointing out.

The very abnormal nature of this relationship raises its fair share of questions. Is poor Harry Potter, orphaned at the age of one and ever unlucky in love, being taken advantage of? Is he being coerced? Severus Snape served as Hogwarts' Potions master for sixteen years. Surely the man is more than capable of brewing a potent love potion, and, as a former Death Eater, more than capable of using it. His classmates have given testimony to the fact that Harry Potter was never fond of Snape. What could have possibly changed?

This writer, for one, thinks that there is something very fishy going on at Hogwarts.

xXx

Harry finished the article a moment after Severus and said, "I'm definitely writing the Prophet about this."

"It's about time that horrible woman was sacked," McGonagall approved.

"No, not that," Harry said. "She has most of her facts straight. The rest is her usual overblown speculation, and nothing that people wouldn't have questioned themselves anyway. I just want a color copy of that photograph." Harry smiled. "Look at us, Sev. We're gorgeous."

Severus rubbed at his furrowed brow. "Yes, very nice. It can go on the mantle. Any ideas about what you want to do about the fact that every witch and wizard in Britain now thinks that I'm some deviant pervert who is drugging and taking advantage of you?"

"Same thing I did last time she was spreading rumors and getting out of hand," Harry said.

"And what is that?" Severus asked.

"I'm going call in a few favors. I have some powerful friends, and Rita Skeeter seems to have forgotten that I'm not a good enemy to have. I know things about her that she wouldn't want made public, and she doesn't seem to know about that 'do unto others' thing. I'll floo Luna over at the Quibbler. We can start circulating the truth. I'll get Skeeter to print a retraction." Harry sighed. "I suppose we'll have to talk to Kingsley."

Severus cringed. "Won't that be a _pleasant_ conversation?"

"Why don't you just ignore it, Potter," Draco said. "If they don't have anything new to print, this will all blow over. After everything else they've printed about you, you should know that by now."

"That might work if it was a lie," Harry said, "but we can't hide forever. The students will be watching us now. One little slip-up and we'll be back on the front page. And it's not just that; we won't even be able to go out to dinner now without everyone knowing about it. I don't want to hide. I'm not ashamed."

Severus gave him a little smile.

"If we're open about it and tell the truth, eventually people will get used to the idea," Harry continued, "and if they don't, they can just go fuck themselves. I'm sick of everyone knowing about every little thing that happens in my life. It's none of their business who I choose to…consort with."

Severus smirked a little at Harry's irritation.

"Very well, gentlemen, I'll leave you to manage your own affairs," McGonagall said, and left.

Draco slumped down into one of the chairs in front of the desk; he was smirking. "I think I'll just hang around here for a bit. This is all much too amusing to miss."

"Actually," Severus said, "I need you to go fetch Mr. Warrick and bring him here. Fortunately, our dirty little secret leaked out over the weekend, but we can't let our personal lives come before our duties to the school. We need to get Mr. Warrick's magical defenses back in place and functioning properly before we can deal with the media."

Draco just looked at him, confused.

"Run along now, Draco," Harry prompted in a patronizing voice.

"What happened to the Warrick kid now?"

"Have him tell you all about it after you fetch him," Severus suggested.

They watched as Draco left with his usual level of irritation. Then Severus turned to Harry. "Okay, now what do you really think?"

"I meant what I said. I don't care who knows about us anymore. At the beginning it was different; we were just starting out. Now… I guess I kind of want people to know. I'm in a relationship, and I'm happy. If people can't be happy for me, then I don't see how they can count themselves as my supporters." He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. "I don't like the things she said about you, about us."

"Like you said, most of it was true; the rest was speculation."

"Not that. She called our relationship abnormal."

"I'd hardly say that our relationship is _normal_," Severus said, smirking a little and pulling Harry into an embrace.

"Maybe not," Harry said, "but it's not abnormal either. It's what works. It's comfortable."

"Yes, it's those things."

"She's making it out to be some big sex scandal."

"People were expecting you to settle down with some nice girl, Granger or Ginny Weasley, and start making babies. I'm not exactly an obvious alternative. Our relationship is unconventional; it's unexpected. As much as I would love to scandalize the entire world with the inappropriateness of our union, cover every magazine and newspaper with pictures of us snogging and send the whole world into uproar, we have to maintain our professionalism."

"We wouldn't want to compromise our professionalism," Harry agreed, leaning up to pull Severus into a kiss, "not with snogging." He reached down to cup a hand around Severus' arse. "Not when we could do it so much more convincingly in other _better_ ways."

"Not now," Severus said, brushing Harry's hand away. "Call the Lovegood girl before Draco returns with Mr. Warrick."

Harry sighed, but went over to the fire. In a few moments he was connected with Luna's office.

"Hello Harry," Luna said. "I was just wondering why you hadn't called yet."

"Um, yes, well, it's been an eventful morning."

"Yes. Do you want me to go to Hogwarts for the interview or will you and Severus be coming here?" She asked.

"Er, well," as usual with any conversation with Luna, Harry felt at a disadvantage. "I don't want to inconvenience you."

"It's not an inconvenience," Luna said. "It is my job, after all. Though I prefer to focus on rare magical creatures, you've always boosted our circulation, Harry. I'll come by later this afternoon."

"Okay, thanks, Luna." Harry said. "Just come to Severus' office. Umm… the password is Potter."

"Oh, that's so sweet," Luna said. "I'll see you later, Harry."

"Bye, Luna." Harry emerged from the fire feeling at a loss for words.

"You know," Severus said. "I think I like watching you make floo calls."

"What?"

"Down on all fours on the rug with your arse in the air."

"Not now," Harry growled.

Draco returned then with Damian.

"Mr. Warrick," Severus said. "Have a seat."

Damian sat down in one of the chairs. Severus sat behind his desk, and, not really having anywhere to go, Draco and Harry stood off to the side.

"Sir," Damian said, "I read the paper this morning. I wanted you to know that-"

Severus cut him off. "You needn't concern yourself with that. What we do need to concern ourselves with is your buffer, it's obviously ineffective. Hopefully it's just a matter of making some adjustments. If you could make contact with the castle now, we can get started."

"Actually, sir, I don't want to adjust the buffer any. It's working out fine as it is."

"After last night, that's clearly not the case. If we can strengthen the field a little, maybe that will be enough to block your visions."

"Well, I don't want to block the visions entirely. They're interesting, and there weren't any physical effects this time, so I think it's okay."

"_Interesting_? You lost consciousness."

"Only for a moment and I didn't really lose consciousness; it's just hard to see two things at once, the vision overrides reality, and it can be a little disorienting. It's fine really. I didn't get hurt or anything, and I don't want the visions to stop. It's interesting. They're always about Gryffindor and Slytherin, and they're dead, so it's not as if I'm invading anyone's privacy. It's not the same as when I accidentally hear what someone else is thinking. I've read books about them, but the people who wrote the books never really meant them, so it's not the same. This is the only way I can really know them. It's not hurting me anymore; I think the castle is insulating me against that. Please don't make me stop them. It's my mind, so I don't see why it isn't up to me."

When Damian put it like that, Severus found it hard to argue. Forcing the boy to put up shields like that would be tantamount to mind control, and that didn't sit easy with Severus.

"Alright, Mr. Warrick, but if there are any more physical effects, we'll have to revisit this argument."

"I understand, sir," Damian said, nodding.

"Very well, you may go, Mr. Warrick."

Damian got to his feet, glancing between Harry and Severus. "I hope you get the mess with the paper straightened out."

"_Thank you_, Mr. Warrick," Severus said tersely. "That's enough."

Damian left down the staircase, and Draco took his vacated seat.

"That was a little weird," Harry said, rounding the desk to sit on the edge facing Snape. "I guess it's not that surprising though. I'd want to know more too, if it was me. I do want to know more. What better source than actual events?"

Severus rested a hand on Harry's thigh. "Draco, what are you still doing here?" he asked, not looking away from Harry's eyes.

"I already told you, I'm amusing myself."

"You should do so elsewhere," Severus said.

"Why?" Draco stretched his arms out above his head and leaned comfortably against the wall.

"I'm about to kiss Mr. Potter," Severus said. He stroked a finger across Harry's cheek and cupped his jaw. "If you're going to stay, avert your eyes like a gentleman."

"Stay if you like, Malfoy," Harry said. He smirked a little at Severus, and Draco made a disgusted noise behind him.

"Oh fine then," Draco said, standing up straight. "Bugger off, both of you."

"Wow, Malfoy. I think that's the first good idea you've ever had."

"What time is Ms. Lovegood stopping by?" Severus asked once Draco had gone.

"Later this afternoon." Harry stroked his foot along Severus' thigh. "Plenty of time to earn all those bad things they've said about us."

"Mmm," Severus seemed to consider it, stroking Harry's cheek. "We haven't earned them already?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "And I can't really think of anything we could do to deserve all that, at least not in bed, but I think it would be fun to try."

"Perhaps," Severus allowed. His hand stroked up along Harry's jaw and lingered at Harry's earlobe. "But my kitchen table is still covered with our _fan mail_."

"We could brush it all on the floor and use the table for something better," Harry suggested.

"I _told_ you; we're not going to do that anymore."

Harry moved from the desk to straddle Severus' lap. "That's what you said _last_ time," Harry pointed out.

"This time I mean it," Severus said firmly.

xXxXxXxXxXx

There was a flutter of paper as Severus pointed his wand at the kitchen table, and a gust of air sent the letters scattered to the floor.

Harry grunted as his chest hit the tabletop hard, and he was pushed roughly forward until his thighs hit the edge of the table. Severus didn't take time to remove Harry's robes. He bunched them up around Harry's hips and pulled down his young lover's trousers and pants. They pooled around Harry's knees, and Severus left them there, holding Harry down against the table with one hand as he undid his own trousers with the other.

Harry moaned as Severus bent over him, licking a line down the lower part of his back and along the cleft of his buttocks.

"Need you," Harry mewled.

"Yesss," Severus hissed in his ear, "I expect you do."

"Please, Sev."

"I want to hear you beg."

"I am begging," Harry growled.

Severus pulled back, sucking a finger into his mouth and slipping it between Harry's cheeks.

"Please," Harry begged.

"I don't know." Severus let his hand slip out with a wet pop. "You are so very much younger than I am." He cupped Harry's ass. "So vulnerable. So _pliable_. We wouldn't want people to think that I'm taking advantage."

"I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Severus leaned over Harry's body, pressing against him, to whisper in his ear. "The Ministry has eyes and ears everywhere. They could be watching us right now."

"Then why don't you give them something worth printing," Harry suggested.

"I could, you know," Severus straightened up again. "I could bugger you right here against this table." Severus ground his hips against Harry's ass.

"You'd better do it properly, then. That bad reputation of yours you seem to like so much is at stake."

Severus made a thoughtful noise, running his hand over the line of Harry's spine up to the exposed part of his back. "I certainly wouldn't want people to start thinking well of me." He slipped his finger back into Harry's cleft. "Seeing as it _is_ my reputation at stake, I suppose I could oblige you."

Harry whimpered.

Severus twisted his finger, thrusting it in and out, and then added a second.

"Please," Harry begged again.

He whimpered when Severus removed his fingers and moaned when he replaced it with his stiff cock instead.

Harry braced himself, wrapping his hands over one edge of the table as Severus pounded him against the other. He was reduced to a moaning gasping puddle in moments, mewling and begging for Severus to go faster and harder.

Severus leaned back, hands on Harry's hips, for a long hard thrust, picking up the pace. Harry was practically sobbing with need, thrusting back against Severus.

"Oh, Harry," Severus moaned. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on the small of Harry's back. "I love you."

Harry smiled, laying his flushed cheek against the cool tabletop, and then gripping the edge of the table hard. With a gasp, Harry's body jerked, and he came over the underside of the table. As the last spurts of come were trickling from his cockhead, Severus thrust hard and grunted, coming inside Harry.

Severus collapsed limply on top of him, and they both lay there.

"That should give them something to print," Severus joked when he finally caught his breath enough to speak.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "I think that if a picture of that made it into the paper, you wouldn't have to worry about your reputation anymore."

"Do you suppose that would settle the matter once and for all?"

"I don't know, but Sirius would murder you, so you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."

Instead of laughing, Severus pulled away and got to his feet, straightening his robes. "I thought that your godfather had come to terms with the fact that there was nothing he could do about our relationship."

"Yes," Harry said, getting to his feet with a slight groan of discomfort. "But I suspect that if he saw the two of us _in flagrante delicto,_ he might change his mind about trying."

Severus stared at him for a moment, and shook his head.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I never cease to be amazed whenever you say something halfway intelligent."

"Oh, shove off," Harry said, pushing him in the shoulder. "I'm going to take a shower, but Luna should be here soon. Will you go wait for her? I told her to come up to your office."

Severus nodded, leaning in to kiss him, before going to wait in his office. He would have liked a shower himself, but he decided that, after the morning they'd been having, maybe they could both do with a few minutes alone to think things over.

xXxXxXxXxXx

When Severus had gone, Harry walked over to the fire and threw in another handful of floo powder to floo call Hermione at her new flat in London.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione called, hurrying over to the fireplace when he called out her name. "I was hoping you'd call. I didn't want to bother you if you were busy."

"That's all right Hermione," Harry said. "I guess you've read the article then, too."

She nodded. "We'll get them to print a retraction. Even if you are in a relationship with Snape, there was no excuse for them reporting it the way that they did. The damage has already been done, but at least it will cause Skeeter to lose some face."

"Why hasn't she been sacked yet, again?"

"She sells papers," Hermione reminded him.

"I thought that was me."

"Well, the lies that she tells about you sell papers, anyway," she amended. "If anyone knew how boring you are in real life, they'd stop wanting to read about you."

"I am NOT boring," Harry said, laughing.

Hermione smiled. "You have this habit of getting yourself into a lot of trouble about once a year. Then Ron and I bail you out. But, the other 364 days a year, it's pretty basic fare."

"Yes, thank you for that, Hermione," Harry said, scowling at her, but his eyes were smiling. "Now, can you help me, or not?"

"Always there to bail you out, Harry." Hermione smiled back. "You need to come visit me and Ron sometime though, see the new flat. Bring the overgrown bat, if you like."

"Yeah, maybe," Harry said. He could spot what a disaster that would be from a mile away, and wasn't about to commit to anything without at least broaching the subject with Severus first. "Severus seems to think that I care more about my reputation than I do about our relationship, and I just don't know how to convince him that that isn't true. I just want to take Rita Skeeter and hang her by her toes in the dungeon- let Filch look after her for a few days. Things were going so well, and then this had to happen."

"It was always going to get out eventually, Harry," Hermione said.

"I know." Harry sighed. "I just wish that it could have waited a year or two. This isn't how I wanted my friends and family to find out. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley must hate me right now, and I don't even want to think about how Ginny must be feeling."

"Don't worry too much about that. They'll understand, given enough time."

"But, what should I do about Severus? He thinks I'll leave him after this."

"That's easy enough to fix. Don't. Once he sees that you aren't going anywhere, he'll realize that you've never really cared what people thought about you."

"Yes, I suppose you're right, like always. Anyway, I've called Luna. She's coming over in a bit. I thought it would be best to publish some kind of response."

"Oooh. That is a good idea, Harry. If people are going to know about it at all, it's better if they know the truth."

"That's what I thought. I just wish that I could sleep with whoever I want without the whole world having to know about it and give me their opinion. Haven't I done enough for everyone? I just want to live my life."

"Did you get many letters?"

"A few hundred, I think, and I'm sure that's only the beginning."

Hermione made a thoughtful noise. "Well, I can't keep people from being interested in your love life, but there may be something I can do about the letters."

"How?"

"Just give me a day or two. I think I might be able to use a spell to reroute the letters somewhere else."

"Like where?" Harry asked.

"Oh," Hermione tried to sound innocent. "How about Rita Skeeter's sitting room?"

Harry let out a bark of laughter. "Hermione, have I told you how brilliant you are?"

"Not today."

"Well, you are, and thanks for the advice. Anyway, I need to go take a shower before Luna gets here. I just wanted to talk to you about this before you got the wrong idea- Ron more than you, really. How did he take it?"

"About how you would expect, but it's okay. It isn't as though he didn't already know. I talked to him, and well… it's _Rita Skeeter_. It's not as though he's going to believe anything she writes after he's had a moment to let his emotions cool down and actually think about it."

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad that I told you guys before it hit the press, not to mention Sirius, but there are still a lot of people that I didn't get around to telling. I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do."

"If they really love you, they'll see that you're happy and leave it at that. If you need any help convincing anyone, just let me know, and I'll see what I can do about heading off some of the damages with the Weasleys; Ron and I are supposed to go over there for dinner tonight."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said. "I'm glad I talked to you. I feel a lot better."

"Anytime, Harry. If you need anything at all, just let me know."

"I will, and thanks again."

"You're welcome. Say hi to Luna for me."

"Okay. Bye, Hermione."

"Talk to you soon."

Harry climbed out of the fireplace, ending the floo call, brushed himself off, and went to take his shower.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Severus looked up at the sound of the spiral staircase moving, but instead of seeing Luna Lovegood as he had expected, the very last person he ever thought he would see step into his office appeared at the foot of the staircase.

Neville Longbottom looked very uncomfortable. He wore a large camera on a strap around his neck, and he fumbled with the lens cap as he hastened to explain his presence. "Luna is going to be along in a minute. She just forgot her journal."

Severus nodded. "Of course. Please, have a seat, Mr. Longbottom."

Neville looked as though the very last thing he wanted to do was get any closer to Severus, but he walked over to the chair in front of Severus' desk and took a seat.

Severus actually felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. "Would you like a drink, Mr. Longbottom?" he asked, thinking that the whole interview might go a lot smoother if Longbottom didn't look as though the room might explode at any moment.

"Yes, thank you," he said.

Severus rose and went over to the liquor cabinet at the other end of the room. "I prefer scotch, but I have some firewhiskey and brandy."

"Scotch is fine," Neville answered.

Severus poured two generous glasses and returned to the desk, handing one to Longbottom before he sat down. "Are you working for Luna now?" Severus asked.

Neville nodded, taking a large gulp of the scotch, and coughing a little. "I just take photographs for her sometimes. I have an apprenticeship with a herbologist in Swindon."

"Professor Sprout has always spoken highly of your skills on that subject. Are you enjoying the work?"

Neville nodded again, but he didn't say anything more. He seemed suspicious of this new amiable Snape, and Severus wasn't quite sure himself why he was trying to be nice to the boy- save that Longbottom was doing him a favor to a certain extent and it would be very poor matters indeed to treat the boy with his usual vitriol.

Thankfully, Luna chose that moment to arrive, and she swept into the room with her usual air of absentminded affability. She kissed Neville on the cheek before taking a seat in the chair beside him. "So sorry that I'm late, nearly forgot my notes." She patted the leather-bound notebook on her lap.

"Not at all," Severus said. "I think Harry will be a minute in any case. He was just taking a quick shower. May I get you a drink, Ms. Lovegood."

"Oh, no thank you. I try to avoid alcohol; it lowers the defenses against shoaling scarndvoles."

Severus nodded politely, and hoped that Harry would return quickly.

"Perhaps a cup of tea then?" Severus offered instead.

"That would be lovely," Luna said.

"I'll just be a moment," Severus excused and quickly left the room. He could have sent for a house elf, but it was considered more polite for the host to make it himself anyway, and he wanted an excuse to find Harry.

He was just stepping out of the bathroom, damp and wearing a towel loosely around his hips, and Severus took only a moment to admire that lean body, before continuing into the kitchen. "Ms. Lovegood is here with Longbottom," Severus called from the kitchen. "Can you please hurry and get dressed."

Harry poked his head in the door. "She brought Neville, really?"

"Yes, so please hurry. I don't want to go back out there alone. I'm just putting the kettle on." When Severus glanced up from the stove, Harry was gone.

A few minutes later, when Severus returned to his office with a tea tray, Harry was already there- perched on the edge of the big oak desk, talking animatedly to his friends. He looked happier than he had been all morning, and Severus felt a sudden pang of jealousy. He quickly quashed the feeling, and set the tea tray down on the desk before sitting down. He made a cup of tea and passed it to Luna.

Luna took a sip and set the cup down in its saucer, suddenly businesslike. "How do you want to do this? Did you want to make a general statement? Otherwise, I have a list of questions prepared, if you want to give a traditional interview."

Harry and Severus exchanged a glance in conference. After a momentary pause, Severus made a slight inclination of his head, and Harry turned back to Luna. "I'm sure that we can answer most of your questions."

Luna jotted something down and flipped another page in her notebook. She glanced down, skimmed the page, and then looked up at them again with an almost solemn air. "Before I barrage you with a bunch of questions, I just want to say congratulations. I'm glad that you both finally noticed what was right in front of you."

They exchanged another glance at this remark, and Harry shrugged.

"Ask your questions, Ms. Lovegood."

Luna nodded. "Those of us who know you a little better might not think so, but to the world at large, your relationship is going to seem bizarre and unlikely." All three men in the room silently thought that the coupling likely seemed even more bizarre and unlikely to those who _did_ know them. "People will be curious," Luna continued. "This plays to our advantage. If the true story is freely available, I think that the public will be much more interested in what the two of you have to say on the matter than whatever rumors happen to be floating around out there."

"Yes," Harry agreed. "That was what Hermione thought too."

After half an hour of Luna asking them questions and Harry fumbling over the answers with occasional input from Severus, they posed for a photograph to accompany the article. Harry and Severus leaned in together, tea cups still in hand, with Severus behind his desk and Harry perched on the edge. Neville snapped a few shots, and that was it. Now they just had to wait to see what the reaction would be to the new article.

Harry and Severus walked them out to the edge of the grounds, past the apparition wards. Harry gave Luna a hug and shook Neville's hand, and Severus thanked them both. A moment later, they were alone on the edge of the forbidden forest.

"That went surprisingly well," Severus said as they made their way slowly back toward the castle.

"That's probably the only time Neville has ever been in your office without something blowing up."

Severus snorted. "Well, I think it's safe to attribute that to the fact that there wasn't a cauldron in the room."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Harry said, slipping his hand into Severus' as they passed the empty stands of the Quidditch pitch. "Why don't you brew anymore?"

Severus stopped walking and looked down to frown at Harry. "Of course I do."

"I haven't seen you."

"I keep a workroom in the dungeons. With Slughorn on staff, it is no longer my responsibility to keep the infirmary stocked, but I do still brew. I make Lupin's wolfsbane potion every month, as well as potions for my personal use."

"When?" Harry asked, trying to remember when Severus had disappeared long enough to brew a potion.

"While you're teaching usually, it gives me time to take a shower after."

"Why?"

"To spare you from having a lover who smells like potion fumes."

Harry thought that was quite possibly one of the sweetest things Severus had ever done, and he leaned over to kiss him before they started walking again.

As they passed the Quidditch pitch, Harry noticed that the lights were on in the field office. He pointed it out to Severus. "Do you think Draco's actually working this late, or did he just forget to put out the lamps?"

"He has been working a lot lately."

"You don't actually think he's been working all that time, do you?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"Those hickeys had to come from somewhere."

"You think that he's entertaining his secret girlfriend?"

"Why don't we go and find out?"

Severus shook his head. "I've said it before, and I shall say it again. You really should have been sorted into Slytherin. If only you weren't so damned _Gryffindor_."

"Sometimes I wish I had been sorted into Slytherin," Harry said.

"Really?"

Harry shrugged. "Things might have been different."

"Undoubtedly."

"Come on," Harry started off toward the field office. "I think it's time we walked in on someone else having sex for a change. How much do you want to bet it's that ponce Zambini?"

"I thought that you said secret _girl_friend?" Severus asked, reluctantly following.

"With those cheekbones? He might as well be a girl."

Severus chuckled. "He _is_ very pretty."

"Hey, watch it, you," Harry said, hitting him playfully.

They reached the door then, and as soon as Harry pulled it open, he wished he hadn't. Draco Malfoy was in fact entertaining his secret lover. Fortunately, they weren't in the middle of having sex, but Harry was met with the image of Draco getting his neck sucked on by a very enthusiastic Ginny Weasley.

She sat on the edge of a rough desk covered in miscellaneous Quidditch gear with her legs wrapped around a moaning Malfoy. Her skirt had ridden up on her thigh enough to give Harry a glimpse of emerald green lace panties before he quickly turned away.

Harry saw Severus' face turn ashen.

"Both of you, my office NOW!" Severus barked. He spun away and strode angrily off onto the grounds. Harry followed, eyes wide.

"That was… unexpected," Harry said when he finally caught up to Severus, nearly at the doors.

"That," Severus ground out, "is unacceptable."

He breezed into the castle past Harry, his robes fluttering out behind him.

"You don't have to tell me," Harry said. "She's practically my sister."

Severus turned and frowned at him, then continues on up the steps.

Harry shook his head and followed again. "I'm not completely sure why you're so angry." Harry called up to him, staring into the straight set of Severus' shoulders.

Severus spun to look at him again. "One of my teachers is sleeping with a student," he hissed, and continued his angry march to his office with Harry in his heels.

Harry was silent the rest of the way to the Headmaster's office, thinking about what Severus said. It was certainly true that a student/teacher relationship was inappropriate, but Draco was only a year older than Ginny. Last year they had both been students. He understood why Severus would want to meet with them about it, but didn't understand why he was so angry.

"Do you want to explain to me why you're so upset now?" Harry asked once they reached Severus' office and the other man finally had to stop avoiding him.

"If I'd wanted to, I would have," Severus snapped.

"I don't understand why you're so angry, but whatever the reason, there's no reason for you to talk to me like that."

Rather than looking apologetic, Severus just sneered.

Harry stared him down until Severus finally broke eye contact, letting out an irritated little huff of air and took a seat behind the desk.

"What's the problem?" Harry asked in a softer tone, taking a seat in one of the chairs before the headmaster's desk. "Yeah, Draco's her teacher now, but he's only a year older than her. Last year it would have been fine. Unless you just don't approve of Ginny? You don't think she's good enough for your precious godson? Is that it?"

"Of course not," Severus said. "She's better than he deserves."

"Then what's the problem? _Please, _Severus, explain it to me."

Severus sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his prominent nose. He could already feel a headache setting in. "You've fallen into this comfortable little life of domesticity and amicable rivalry. You sit between two Death Eaters at meals and joke about the horrors we've all been through, and you've _forgotten_."

"Forgotten what exactly?"

"Forgotten who you're dealing with. Draco is not your friend. He's just an enemy you've grown comfortable with. You've forgotten the things he's done. By all rights, he should be in Azkaban. He deserves to be in Azkaban. The only reason he isn't is because I worked very very hard to keep him out. I did for him what Dumbledore did for me so many years ago- when I was a stupid child in a similar situation. I convinced Kingsley that he deserved a second chance. I gave him a job, and a life, and a chance to atone for what he's done, and he's throwing it all away.

"There are still many people who want to see the rest of the Malfoys locked away in Azkaban with that bastard Lucius. One blemish on his already tarnished reputation would be enough. The scales are loaded against him, and he seems to be doing his best to tip them the rest of the way."

"You know I wouldn't let that happen," Harry said.

Severus continued as if Harry hadn't even spoken. Once he had begun, it seemed, he was unable to stop.

"And now he's begun a relationship with a student, which, coming on top of today's paper, no one will believe I didn't condone. The consolation prize for being a Slytherin Death Eater _is NOT_ the affection of a Gryffindor war hero. He should know better," Severus paused for a moment before adding in a sad tone, "so should I, come to that."

"I thought we were past all that," Harry said, trying not to sound angry about Severus' continuing reticence over their relationship. "Anyway, no one needs to know about Draco and Ginny."

"Because that worked out so well for us?"

A grinding of stone silenced Harry's reply, and Draco and Ginny stepped off the spiral staircase. Ginny's freckled cheeks where tinged pink with embarrassment, but her chin jutted out a firm obstinate angle. Draco just looked stricken- confused and afraid.

Harry vacated his chair and stood behind Severus, and Draco and Ginny took the two chairs opposing the desk.

There was a moment of tense silence before Severus spoke. "How long has this been going on?" He sounded grave.

Ginny and Draco exchanged a glance, and then she answered, "About a month."

Severus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose again in irritation. _Too long_. He should have noticed, but he was too preoccupied with Harry and trying to keep Damian _bloody_ Warrick out of the infirmary for more than a week at a time to pay much attention to anything else, and now it was probably too late. If he had caught it in the first few days, he might have had a hope of putting a stop to this nonsense, but after a month? The odds were not in his favor. One glance at the pair, holding hands and wearing identical expressions of cold resolve tinged with apprehension, was enough to tell that they loved each other. And damn Harry. This was his fault. The old Severus would have never let this happen, but even now he felt his own resolve wavering. Draco was his godson, and now that the boy had renounced all ties to his father that bond had grown to more than mere guardianship. Begrudging Draco whatever solace and joy the boy had managed to find just because he didn't approve of the match made him almost as bad as Black. _Still_, he had to try. It was for Draco's own good.

"This has to stop," he said after an extended silence, "at least until you graduate, Miss Weasley."

"Then I'll drop out like Fred and George. I've accepted an offer from the Hollyhead Harpies. If I quit now, I can start this season."

"Absolutely not," Harry said.

"What difference does it make to you?" Ginny demanded. "You gave up whatever say you had in what I do with my life a long time ago."

"I care about you Ginny. You know I think of you as a sister."

"You weren't so fraternal a couple years ago- before you started batting for the other team." She glanced at Severus. "Or is it catching?"

Harry looked sad. "I'm sorry if I hurt you, that was a mistake, bit it would have been crueler if I'd stayed when I was in love with someone else. I didn't want to pretend, and I didn't want to lead you on."

Ginny looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have said that, but I'm not breaking up with Draco"

"And you're not leaving school either. Your mother would kill me."

Ginny cracked a smile at that, and Harry remembered that he had a rather unpleasant conversation with Molly Weasley coming already- one that had nothing to do with Ginny's educational enrollment or relationship status.

"Do you have anything to say about all this, Draco?" Severus asked.

"It's Ginny's decision, but if I have to resign so she can stay, I will."

"You can't afford to resign. No one else would hire you."

"I'll figure something out."

"No you won't. You're not going anywhere."

"If I'm not going anywhere, and Ginny isn't going anywhere, and we aren't slitting up, what's the point of all this?" Draco asked.

"No damned point at all," Severus growled. "Go to bed, both of you. And that would be _Gryffindor Tower_ for you, Miss Weasley," he added quickly. "If you're hell-bent on continuing with this idiocy, take a care to be discreet and learn some good warding and silencing spells. If you do get caught, I knew nothing of this. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Ginny said.

"Not a word," Draco agreed.

"Fine," Severus dismissed. "Get the hell out of here, and if you know what's in your best interest, you'll both do well to avoid me for a few days. Morons both of you- sheer idiocy, imbecilic, short-sighted, bloody morons."

Severus was still grumbling insults as the two left.

"It's been a long day," Harry said when Severus had finally trailed off into silence. "I think it's time we went to bed too. Tomorrow will be better."

Severus met his eyes. "Is there no end to that Gryffindor optimism?"

Harry shrugged. "I hope nothing so bad ever happens that we have to find out." He rested his hand on the back of Severus' neck and rubbed away some of the tension. "Nothing is ever easy with us, but it's worth it, isn't it?"

"_Yes,_ Harry, it's worth it." He leaned forward to give Harry access to his shoulders, and Harry continued with his massage. "You're worth anything. I love you." He moaned as Harry's fingers worked at a particularly tight knot of tensed muscle. "But you should have noticed it by now."

"Noticed what?"

"It's this place. The castle you call your home. You said that Hogwarts is the only place you've ever called home, and I can claim the same thing, but Hogwarts makes things complicated. I've taught here for seventeen years, and I can't remember a single term when there wasn't some threat, or mystery, or some heinous fuckery of epic proportions going on. Your portrait might have caught the truth of it. I think that it must get as boring being a castle as it gets being a painting. I'm starting to think that all of this," he gestured around the room to somehow indicate the sheer absurdity of their life here and all its complications, "is just Hogwarts trying to entertain itself. But we won't leave. We'll just continue to do this year after year, term after term, because this is our home, and anything else would seem dull and mundane in comparison."


	19. Strange Things

Author's Note: I'm a truly reprehensible person. I'm lazy and there's just no excuse. I'm not really lazy. I work 55 hours a week, but I still should have had this up ages ago.

Disclaimer: No is mine.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Give Me Life

Chapter 19

Strange Things

xXxXxXx

The Truth: Uncompromised

By: Luna Lovegood

This publication has a reputation for printing the truth when others do not, and we are happy to put to rest the rumors about the supposed relationship between Severus Snape and Harry Potter. While the implications made by The Daily Prophet yesterday are mostly false, we are happy to confirm that the two are in a mutually fulfilling consensual relationship and have been since the start of the school term this year when Harry was hired as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Valuing their privacy, the two have kept the relationship a secret from everyone, save a few close friends and family, but after the revelation of their relationship yesterday, they were willing to grant The Quibbler an exclusive interview.

I have known both of these men since I was a child, and, while the coupling may appear strange and unlikely to some, it came as no surprise to me. If the war had not called their time and attention elsewhere, the two may have found happiness together much sooner. In any case, after the many sacrifices they have made for the freedom and safety of the wizarding world, I cannot understand how the same public can begrudge them their happiness and privacy.

Upon entering Headmaster Snape's office for the interview, I was immediately struck by how comfortable my old friends were with each other. Throughout the interview, they continued to flirt and banter lightly as they answered my questions. After the interview, I have no doubt whatsoever that Harry Potter and Severus Snape are completely and genuinely in love.

Q: Who was the first to suggest that you should start dating?

H: That would have been Severus. I think it's the only time I've ever seen him fumble for words. When he couldn't come right out and say it, he finally just kissed me.

Q: Did you have any reservations? You must have had some idea of what the public's reaction would be to your relationship?

H: I didn't have any reservations. This is something I've wanted for a long time. As for the wizarding public,… I've already killed Voldemort. I don't know what else they want from me, and, honestly, I don't care. I'm ready to live my own life.

S: I did have reservations. There are reasons why our relationship isn't completely appropriate, and, while I was eager to take the next step at that point, I didn't want to do so without first addressing those concerns. After talking about it with Harry and clearing the air over our past, I felt that continuing to proceed was the right decision.

Q: Severus, you said "the next step"; does that mean that you already had a relationship to some degree?

S: Naturally. We had gone from being teacher and pupil, to allies, to coworkers, and then friends. Our friendship took a lot of forgiveness and cultivation before we could even consider a romantic relationship.

Q: What about you, Harry? How have your feelings for Severus changed? You said that this was something you've wanted for a long time. How long exactly?

H: Since back when our relationship really would have been inappropriate. Unfortunately, I didn't know where Sev's loyalties were back then, so I'm sorry to say that I hated him at that time. After the war, when the truth finally came out, I started to come to terms with those feelings.

Q: What was your first date like? You must have found it difficult to maintain your anonymity on a date.

H: We went to a restaurant and a movie in the muggle world. Homosexuality isn't as widely accepted there as it is in the wizarding world, but we were able to be together without it being all over the front page of the tabloids.

Q: After all that effort to keep your relationship a secret, how do you feel about the timing of the Daily Prophet article?

H: It's unfortunate. While I've told some of my friends and family, I haven't managed to talk to all of them yet, and I wish that I'd had a chance to tell them before they read about it in the paper. Also, I had hoped to keep Severus from becoming tabloid fodder so soon.

Q: The main problem that most people seem to have with your relationship is the age difference. How do you feel about it?

H: I love whom I love, and Severus and I will have many more happy years together, so everyone might as well get used to it.

Q: What about you, Severus? Do you feel strange having a partner half your age?

S: If it were anyone else, I would say yes, but I have been arguing with and protecting Harry since he was eleven. I find that little enough has changed.

Q: Is there anything else you want to say to our readers?

H: Severus is the bravest, smartest, most honorable man I've ever known, and I wish that I was half the man he is. The public would do well to recognize that and realize that I'm the one who's lucky to be with him and not the other way around.

S: And please stop sending us letters.

H: Yes. It's making a mess of the kitchen, and we'd like access to our table.

Reluctantly bidding my friends farewell, I returned to the office so that we could bring you this special edition today. I hope that it brings understanding and acceptance for these two extraordinary men.

Congratulations, Harry and Severus. All my best.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Sunday was spent cloistered away in Severus' rooms. There was an advance copy of _The Quibbler _waiting for them when they woke, and they had a chance to read it a few hours before it would be sent to anyone else. Harry owled Luna to thank her for her help and hard work, and then they had breakfast and waited for the owls to arrive.

Hermione had made good on her promise to find a way to send all their mail to Rita Skeeter, but after some consideration they decided to limit this to only the howlers. A howler, apart from being generally unpleasant, destroyed itself once its purpose had been fulfilled, and wouldn't leave anything for her to use against them. The last thing Harry and Severus wanted was for copies of some of their more defamatory _fan mail_ appearing in the paper.

Once the special edition of _The Quibbler _went out, it didn't take long for the owls to start arriving.

"May we simply burn these unopened this time?" Severus asked, relieving a large barn owl of its burden- a letter, addressed to Harry, roughly the length and weight of a manuscript.

"I want to open a few so that we can gauge the situation, then we can pretend it's November fifth."

"Fawkes was looking a little under the weather. Perhaps today will be a burning day, and he can do the honors."

They finished taking the letters from the assembled owls, and when no more seemed forthcoming, they sat at the table and began reading through a few.

_Professor Potter and Headmaster Snape,_

_ I know you said that you didn't want any more letters, but I just wanted to say that I think you deserve to do whatever makes you both happy, and you shouldn't let anyone try to tell you differently._

_Best wishes,_

_Laina Prewitt_

Harry paled a little. "This one is from Damian Warrick's Ravenclaw friend." He looked around at the pile of letters. "You don't suppose these are all from students, do you? They did get here awfully fast."

Severus frowned. He plucked one of the letters addressed to him from the pile at random.

_Headmaster Snape,_

_Way to go, fucking Potter! You're the tops, sir. Give the boy who lived a little show of what a real Slytherin can do. _

_Respect._

Severus raised an eyebrow. "The author of this particular sentiment wisely left it unsigned, but I recognize the handwriting. It's from one of the Slytherin fifth-years- Lysander Troy. He's always been crude, but never possessed with much wit or common sense." Severus folded the letter closed. "I think it's safe to say that all of these have come from the student body, and none are fit for anything save firelighters.

Harry sighed. "I'm so sick of this shite." Harry tossed down the letters in his hand.

Severus looked over the pile and imagined all the others that would surely be coming in over the course of the morning and likely days to follow. He wasn't looking forward to the prospect.

"Dobby," he said suddenly. There was a pop as the house elf appeared.

"Hello Headmaster sir and Harry Potter," Dobby said, looking overjoyed to be there. "What can Dobby be doing for you?"

"I think we've had enough post for one day, Dobby. Could you see to disposing of any additional mail?"

"Of course, sir." Dobby shot a glance toward Harry. "Dobby is not reading, but he understands. You will not be bothered by anymore nasty mail. You will be having _privacy_." Dobby gave a firm nod. He snapped his fingers, and banished all the mail from the table, and then popped out of the room.

Harry sighed. "I guess that's taken care of," he said. "We still have today off. Can we just pretend like everything is normal for one day? Just stay here and forget about it all?"

"Yes," Severus said, "except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"I think there's one floo call you should really make."

Harry thought over the long list of people he needed to talk to, but only came up with one call that really shouldn't wait another day. "The Weasleys?" he asked with a resigned sigh.

Severus nodded. "They're your family. You should talk to them."

"Can we do it together?"

"Do you think that's wise?"

Harry considered it for awhile. "I don't know, but it's what I want."

"It's up to you. I'll go along with whatever you want."

Harry made a thoughtful noise. "And put on an 18th century naval officer's uniform and make me breakfast."

"What?"

"Eggs and bacon," Harry clarified.

"No."

Harry shrugged. "It was worth a try."

"Are you serious?"

"I like the brocade, and you'd look good in blue."

"Go call your family," Severus said in an admonishing tone.

"Sheesh," Harry said, getting to his feet and still smirking. "Forgive me for trying to add a little excitement to the relationship."

"Our relationship has had quite enough excitement, Mr. Potter, without the need to resort to tacky muggle costumes and role-playing."

"Not feeling any need to ream one of the deckhands, Captain?"

"I'd rather lash you against the main mast."

"As long as it's a tongue lashing," Harry shot back, smirking.

"Stop stalling, Harry."

"Can't I call them tomorrow?" he pleaded. "Or Christmas? People are always more forgiving around Christmas."

"Now, Harry," Severus commanded. "You've faced down a dark lord, and we've already dealt with your troublesome godfather. Surely you're not afraid of Molly Weasley."

"You didn't see what she did to Bellatrix Lestrange."

It was true, he hadn't, but he had heard it described in gory detail on multiple occasions. "Point taken. However, I really don't think this will be a problem if handled with the appropriate level of delicacy."

"Fine, but you're going to be right there with me."

"I've already assented to that."

"Hmph," Harry took him by the hand and led him past the fireplace in the sitting room and out to the larger one in his office. Harry spared him an angry look before tossing a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and poking his head in to call, "The Burrow," he reached back to grab the edge of Severus' robes and yanked the other man down beside him.

"Hey Harry," someone said as soon as The Burrow's kitchen resolved itself into view. It was Charlie Weasley, sitting at the table nursing a cup of tea. His lip curled into a licentious smile. "And Severus, what a pleasant surprise."

"Are your mum and dad around?"

"They went to the shop for a few things- big Weasley Sunday morning brunch, you know. You haven't been for a while," he glanced at Severus, "been busy, I guess."

"Yeah, okay," Harry mumbled. "I'll just call back later, I guess."

"Nonsense," Charlie said. "You'll come to brunch. Ron and Hermione, the twins, Bill and Fleur are all here already. Percy is even coming. Mum would be so happy if you came. Bring your old man."

"I don't find that particularly amusing, Mr. Weasley," Severus growled.

"Just an expression, Snape."

Harry was torn between an honest desire to spend some time with his family, and the all encompassing dread of both trying to explain Severus and dragging him into the chaos of a full-on Weasley clan brunch."

"You'll come?" Charlie prompted when Harry still hadn't answered.

"Yeah," Harry said, reluctantly. "We'll come. Just give us a few minutes."

Harry and Severus pulled out of the fireplace together.

"Are you okay with this?" Harry asked.

"I was the one who prompted you to talk to them. As daunting as I find the prospect of brunch with the Weasleys, I think I'll manage."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "Let's get dressed and head over then."

"Shall I don that naval uniform?" Severus asked with a straight face.

Harry smiled. "I think we'll have enough to explain as it is."

xXxXxXxXxXx

A crowd of Weasleys awaited them when they stepped out of the fireplace. Fred and George wasted no time in pulling Harry into a hug and making him into a Weasley sandwich. They ruffled his hair and clothes, leaving him looking thoroughly disheveled when they finally pulled away to focus their attention on Snape- patting him on the back a little too hard and taking generally more familiar liberty then the dour man was comfortable with. Hermione hugged Harry then and greeted Severus with a warm smile while Ron stood by looking disapproving of the whole situation. Charlie managed to swoop down on Severus and pulled him roughly against his muscular body for his own hug- one that lasted just a bit too long to be considered strictly decent.

"Glad you came," he said when he finally let go.

"Yeah," Fred piped in. "It's about time you met the family."

"Have a few things to answer for," George agreed.

Ron snorted.

"Lay off it, Ronald," Hermione reprimanded. "We're glad you came, Professor. And we've missed you, Harry."

"Time to eat, kids," Molly yelled from the kitchen, and Severus and Harry were treated to more pats on the back as they were ushered through all the chaos into the kitchen.

"Severus," Arthur nodded to him as they took seats at the table-wedged in between the twins on one side, Charlie on the other, and Ron and Hermione across from them. The kitchen seemed to be bursting at the seams with Weasleys.

The entire situation took Severus completely off guard. It hadn't been anything approaching the massive row that he'd been expecting. Most of Harry's adopted family already knew of their involvement of course, but Severus found himself being welcomed into their midst with little question. Arthur had managed a smile and hadn't made much comment over his presence, but Molly was still at the stove with her back turned to the table. Severus braced himself for whatever was coming.

When she turned to the table, her eyes automatically locked on his, and she seemed undecided over what her reaction to his presence should be.

Harry quickly spoke up to divert attention to himself. "Thanks for having us over, Mrs. Weasley," he said. "Sorry I couldn't have made it sooner, but we've been so busy with the school. I've missed you all so much. I wish I could have talked to you about all this sooner." He gestured from himself to Severus.

Whatever inner turmoil Molly had been fighting melted away, and she gave Harry a bright smile. "Oh, not at all, Harry dear. I know how hard it can be to manage so many children," she glanced over her own brood with a loving breed of exasperation. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Molly," she scolded, "or mum if you like. You know I think of you as one of my own."

Harry flushed and nodded.

"And you," she said, turning her ire on Severus. "You're lucky I have half of my children vouching for you, or I would have hexed you into your next life. You're to take good care of my son, and you're to have him here for brunch at least once a month, and you're coming to Christmas. I don't want to hear any argument, or I'll change my mind on what I think about all this."

Severus smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it, Molly. Thank you for being so accommodating."

She scoffed, but Harry thought he could see the shock that she was trying to hide over the genuine smile that Severus was favoring her with. She shook her head. "Well, I can't say I saw this one coming, but we're glad to have you with us."

"Great," Ron muttered. "Now that we have all that cleared up, can we eat?"

"Mind your manners, Ronald Weasley," she snapped, but platters of food started getting passed around the table all the same.

It was odd, Severus thought, how easily they all just accepted his presence. They ate and talked, and carried on as if he was just part of the family. He'd never quite experienced anything like it.

"And how is Damian Dragon-bane?" Charlie asked after they'd all had a chance to eat something.

"Adjusting," Harry answered.

"And the dragon?" Charlie asked.

"Dead," Severus said.

"That's a pity," Charlie said.

"Hardly. It's been dead for several centuries I would guess." Severus took a sip of his orange juice.

"Oh?"

"The dragon was a corporeal manifestation of past events brought on by the boy's natural ability at magical field manipulation and amplified by the castle's magical signature."

Charlie frowned. "I think I understood that."

"The dragon attack was a memory from the castle. Damian saw it in a vision, and suffered the effects," Harry explained.

"From the castle?" Charlie pondered this.

Hermione's eyes darted back and forth between the three men. "What are you talking about?"

"Just a little problem we've been having with one of the students," Harry said, somewhat hoping she would let it go.

"That sounds serious."

"We have it under control," Harry continued. "We're working on it, and I'm not a complete idiot, I _can_ figure this out on my own."

"I never said you were an idiot, Harry," Hermione said. She sounded hurt. "I was just interested is all. I thought maybe I could help."

"It couldn't hurt to get another opinion," Severus said.

Harry sighed. "Fine, but this is still my problem, Hermione. You can help, but don't get carried away."

She nodded her bushy brown head, and Harry launched into a long explanation of everything that had been going on at the school this term. They had all finished eating by the time Harry finished, having to ask for help from Severus in explaining just what a paradox potion was.

Ron made a long whistling noise. "Sheesh, doesn't anything ever change. It kind of makes you nostalgic for the good old days. Huh, Harry?"

"Megalomaniac dark wizards trying to kill me? Giant snakes? Dementors? Mermaids, and dragons, and blast-ended skrewts? Escaped convicts, and Death Eaters, and Draco Malfoy?"

Ron grinned.

"Yeah," Harry said. "I guess it is a bit like old times."

"You forgot greasy hook-nosed dungeon bats," Severus offered.

Harry smiled. "How dare you even suggest such a thing," he said, leaning over to kiss the bridge of the other man's nose. "I could never forget a huge git like you."

Nearly every person at the table had their eyes fixed curiously on this exchange. It wasn't such a surprise perhaps; they were starting to get used to being something of a curiosity.

"So?" Harry asked finally. "Do you have any suggestions that we might not have considered?"

Hermione seemed to be thinking rapidly, running through possibilities in her head. After a moment she seemed to collapse in upon herself with a kind of resigned surrender. "I have no idea."

"Well there's a first," Ron said.

Hermione reached over and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "It is very interesting though, Harry. If you'll permit me, I'd like to do a little research. I can pass along anything I find that might be useful."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, okay, that'd be great."

Hermione beamed, overjoyed to have another mystery to solve.

"Well," Mrs. Weasley said. "Just so long as the boy is alright." She stood and began to gather the dishes.

Fleur got up to try to help her, bracing one hand against the small of her back to support her pregnant belly as she rose carefully to her feet.

"Sit back down, you silly girl," Severus snapped. Harry could tell that it was playful, but there was a moment of shocked silence from the other Weasleys around the table. Fleur looked up at him with startled grey doe-eyes. "You're apt to pop at any moment," Severus amended a little softer with a small smile. "I can help Molly with the dishes. You should rest." He rose to his feet then and began to do just that, much to the complete shock of everyone save Harry- who had recently been receiving similar treatment from the potion master. And Harry had to admit that there wasn't a better looking house elf anywhere.

The others helped to clear the table and then left Molly and Severus to start the dishes to washing and tidy up the kitchen.

"Are you really okay with this," Severus asked her once they were alone.

Molly sighed. She didn't have to ask what he was talking about. "The last few years have been hard on all of us," she said. "You deserve to be happy as much as he does, I suppose. You are happy? Both of you?"

Severus nodded.

"Well I won't say that this isn't all highly… _peculiar_, but as long as it's what you both want, I have no grounds to argue."

"And what about Arthur?" Severus asked, flicking his wand at the plates to send them back to the cupboard.

"He's always liked you for some strange reason," she observed, "and Arthur generally thinks whatever I tell him to think where anything other than his silly muggle contraptions is concerned. It won't be a problem."

Severus smiled. "It's a relief to hear it," he said. "Harry needs his family. You're very important to him, Molly. You're the only real mother he's ever known."

Molly looked on the verge of tears. "He's very important to me too, so you'd better take care of him, Severus Snape."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry was emotionally exhausted by the time they returned to the castle. He'd been so worried over what the remaining Weasleys would think about Severus, that their easy acceptance had come as more of a shock than repudiation would have. They spent the remaining afternoon out in the garden, joking and helping to rake leaves and get the plants ready for the first winter frost.

"Thanks for making me go, Sev," he said tiredly as they got ready for an early evening. "I should have given them more credit. I don't know why I was so sure they'd be upset."

"They just want what's best for you, Harry."

He nodded. "I know. I just didn't think they would trust me to know what that is for myself."

Severus reached over to brush a hand across Harry's cheek and cup his jaw. "You'll always have me in your corner no matter what happens, and perhaps this _Daily Prophet _article was for the best. We don't have to hide anymore."

Harry shook his head, smiling sadly. "I don't think you know how this works, Severus."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Now we don't have a choice. We couldn't hide if we wanted to. The whole world is going to be watching our every move."

Severus frowned.

"Welcome to the limelight," Harry said. "Trust me, this time next month, you'll be wondering how you could have ever thought that I liked being the center of attention."

"I never really thought that. I'm sorry I had to feign constant disdain for you. I don't know if you'll ever believe it, but it always hurt me just as much as it hurt you."

Harry shook his head. "You don't need to lie for my account. I've seen your memories. I know what you thought."

"Only for the first month after you came to school," Severus explained. "By the time I changed my mind, it was too late to do anything about it. We suspected Quirrell was after the Philosopher's stone, and the dark lord's return was imminent. I couldn't afford to show you any positive consideration. It would have put us both at risk. My main concern was your safety."

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair- it was starting to get long. "I don't care. None of it matters anymore. Can we just leave what happened back then in the past for once? I just want you as you are, here and now."

"You can have me anyway, anywhere, and anytime you want, Harry," Severus purred in his ear.

Harry grinned.

"Except against the kitchen table and dressed as a naval officer," Severus quickly amended.

Harry's face fell. "Prude," he accused.

"Hardly."

"What if we went to the room of requirement and did it on the deck of an actual ship? Would you wear the uniform then?"

"No. What's your sudden obsession with this anyway?"

Harry flushed. "I've been reading the Horatio Hornblower books."

Severus' eyebrows shot up. "For entertainment?"

"Yes, for entertainment, you prat." Harry hit him in the shoulder. "I do occasionally do that, you know. I'm not completely illiterate."

"I never said _completely_…"

Harry hit him again.

Severus rubbed his arm. "Stop that."

"Stop being a prat then," Harry grumbled.

xXxXxXxXxXx

They couldn't stay hidden forever, and Monday brought with it the start of another work week. Things had gotten strange following the release of the Daily Prophet article and Luna's special edition of The Quibbler. The stares of both the staff and students they had expected, but it was something else… there was a strange feeling that followed them everywhere they went- even when they were alone in their quarters.

Kingsley had been sending them several owls a day since news of their new relationship had hit the press. These, along with letters from friends and family, had been diligently sorted out from the rest of their mail and left in Severus' office by Dobby. Harry decided he should make an effort to do something nice for the elf for all the extra trouble. They had mostly ignored the letters from Kingsley, but it was only a matter of time before the minister arrived in person.

To add to all of that, the Slytherins had been acting strangely. Harry hadn't noticed at first. He thought they were just staring at him like the rest of the students, but as the week progressed and the other houses began to lose some of their interest in Harry's love life, the Slytherins continued their staring and strange behavior. It wasn't until one of the Slytherin seventh-years asked him a question about a particularly obscure counter-jinx that Harry had only mentioned in passing a few days before that he realized what had been niggling at him: the Slytherins were _paying attention_. It might not seem like anything noteworthy, but after struggling all term to get through to them, the fact that the Slytherins were actually making some effort to listen to what he had to say was incredible.

And yet, something about this sudden change in attitude just didn't sit right with him. Harry decided that to get to the bottom of it he'd have to talk to one of them, and there was only one that he could trust to give him a straight and honest answer.

"Mr. Warrick?" Harry called after Damian's retreating back.

The boy stopped and turned around, adjusting the weight of his book bag on his shoulder. "Professor?"

"In my office for just a moment." Harry still hadn't gotten used to the way that any student he spoke to privately looked at him like they were awaiting the gallows. Damian was no exception. "You aren't in trouble," Harry assured him, but Damian only looked slightly less trepidatious.

Once they'd mounted the steps to Harry's office and closed the door behind them, Harry perched on the edge of his desk and fixed Damian with a considering look. "Want to tell me what's going on in Slytherin House?"

The immediate expression of guilt that crossed Damian's face was all the confirmation Harry needed.

"What do you mean, professor?" the boy asked innocently.

"I mean," Harry said. "That den of serpents has suddenly started treating me like some kind of messiah, and I want to know why."

"I have no idea what you mean, sir."

"Should I drop by the common room this evening and have a look for myself then?"

Damian startled at this. "I wouldn't advise it, sir."

"Then you'd better start explaining."

"I'm not sure I can."

"You're a bright boy, and you can know what everyone is thinking anytime you want," Harry said. "I'm sure you can find the words."

Damian shrugged. "They just like you is all. It isn't a huge mystery."

"Why now? Why all of a sudden?"

"Because of the Headmaster," Damian answered. "The Slytherins are protective of him. He's one of our own. Now that the two of you are in love, that makes you one of us too- sort of an… _honorary Slytherin_."

Harry stared at the boy in bafflement for a moment, and finally resolved that he'd have to ponder over that particular revelation at a later date- when he had more time and some alcohol. "Alright," he said after a moment. "Have you had any more visions?"

Damian shook his head.

"Would you actually tell me if you had?" Harry asked, suspecting that he already knew the answer.

Damian hedged, and Harry sighed in annoyance.

"We've agreed to allow the visions to continue as long as they remain just _visions_, but if you start to have any physical manifestations or side-effects, you need to tell either me or the Headmaster. I know you don't want to end up in the hospital wing anymore than we want to see you there."

Damian shook his head.

"Okay then, and keep on the lookout for any mention of something called a paradox potion in any of your visions. Severus thinks it has to do with what's going on. It could be important."

Damian nodded.

"Well, get to class then," Harry said. "You can tell Professor Malfoy to take it up with me if you're late, but I would prefer it if you weren't."

"Okay," Damian said, grabbing his bag to rush off. "Tell your boyfriend he owes me a chess game," he added just before he let the door close behind him.

"Cheeky little snake," Harry muttered, dropping his forehead to rest in the palms of his hands. He could just imagine how well Severus would take it if the students started referring to him as Harry Potter's boyfriend. He had to snort laughter at that.

And now he was an _honorary Slytherin?_ What a fine mess this was turning into.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry had been distracted the rest of the day. He approached his few remaining classes with a kind of detached disinterest and only took some mild enjoyment from the groans of the students when he handed out their pop quizzes. He had to laugh at this; maybe it was the teaching that was turning him into a Slytherin.

He returned to Severus' quarters an hour or so before dinner, eager to relay the information he'd received from Damian that afternoon- if only to see the man laugh. But Severus was nowhere to be found, at least not in his quarters. Harry took a seat in the chair by the fireplace, and took up a handful of the mail stored in a basket there. This was the mail they'd received before turning Dobby into their private secretary, and Harry had refused to allow Severus to toss it all into the fire without at least sorting through it in case there was something important hidden amongst the midden of hate mail and hollow sentiments. So, he'd been systematically sorting through the pile of letters, occasionally opening a few and wishing he hadn't, over the last week. Only a few had been saved from the fire, and Harry had yet to find anything to vindicate the extra effort.

Until today, that is. He pulled a burnt-orange envelope from the pile and gave it a cursory glance. He was about to toss it into the fire when the name struck him as familiar, and he did a double-take. The letter was from a Master Alonzo Valora, and it was addressed to Master Severus Snape, not Headmaster- referring to his title as a potion master and not his position at the school.

He tore the letter open, glancing over the missive. The strange letters and numbers printed neatly on the page meant nothing to him, but the single line at the bottom that he did understand sent his heart racing. "Paradox potion a likely possibility."

Harry got quickly to his feet and left Severus' quarters at a near run to find him with the letter clutched in his hand.

The remaining letters that had been piled on Harry's lap scattered in a flurry of paper to the floor before the hearth- watching their fellows burn in the embers and awaiting their own fate.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry started down toward the dungeons. If Severus wasn't in his office, then he must be in his private lab. The problem was that Harry didn't know exactly where it was, and he kept getting disconcerting looks from the Slytherins as he wandered around looking for it. He considered asking one of them for directions, but wasn't sure he wanted to have an in-depth conversation with one of the students about why he was looking for Severus' lab or why he didn't already know where it was. He was about to ask the castle instead, looking for a suitable place to do it away from prying eyes, when a voice from down the corridor called to him.

"Arry?"

Harry stopped walking and turned to see Hagrid behind him, seeming to fill the entire corridor.

"Oh, hey Hagrid. I was just looking for Severus; you haven't seen him anywhere, have you?"

"The 'eadmaster left a few hours ago ta go see Kingsley."

That was to be expected, Harry supposed. Shaklebolt had been breathing down their necks all week. "Oh, okay." Harry scratched the back of his neck, taking in the crossbow hanging loosely from Hagrid's hand. "What are you doing down here, Hagrid?" he asked.

"Ah, well Argus thought ee migh' 'ave spotted a few acromantula roaming around. Wanted me ta take a look."

Harry looked around, half expecting to see the massive spiders crawling up the walls toward them, but the hallway was blessedly empty of monstrous arachnids. By now he should be used to this sort of thing, monsters and dragons and darkness and just general madness and chaos, but he was still just a bit disquieted that the only attention given to a bunch of gargantuan man-eating spiders roaming the school was that the caretaker had casually mentioned it to the gamekeeper- who then took up his trusty crossbow and headed into the dark to fight monsters. Likely no one else would have even known about it if Harry hadn't run into him.

"Can I give you a hand?" Harry asked.

"That'd be 'preciated," Hagrid said. "'Fraid if it comes ta stunnin the buggers, I'm not much good."

It was true that, while Hagrid's name had been cleared and he was now legally allowed a wand, he had yet to replace the broken one concealed within his pink umbrella. Though, with all the lethal force of his giant heritage, he hardly needed one to handle himself in this kind of situation. "Oh, I don't know," Harry said grinning. "I seem to remember my cousin, Dudley, waddling around with a pig's tail for a few weeks."

"Ah, well," Hagrid said sheepishly. "That wasn't so much magic as jus' lettin' Nature finish wha she started."

Harry laughed. "Well, lay on, Macduff." He pointed off down the hallway, and squeezed himself in beside Hagrid as they began patrolling.

"Mus' be getting' boring, what with bein' a pr'fessor an all, if you're voulunteerin ta go monster hunting with me."

"I wish," Harry said, "but it's always something."

"Ever find that dragon?" Hagrid asked.

"It wasn't a real dragon," Harry said, hoping he wouldn't have to explain further. He was eager to discuss neither dragons in general nor a certain dragon called Norbert in particular. He quickly cast about for a subject change before Hagrid could ask any more questions about it. "The thing with Severus," he said, thinking that even a row over his new relationship would be preferable to listening to Hagrid coo over Norbert. "That's not going to be a problem with you, is it?"

Hagrid shook his great shaggy head. "Naw, Harry. I like Snape just fine, fer tha mos' part. An' you 'aven't been round long anough ta know this, but someone's always sleepin' with someone round here. Normally, we do a little better job hidin it from tha students, but in yer case I don' imagine it coulda been helped."

Harry had been told something along these lines once or twice before, but still couldn't quite picture any of his former professors or current colleagues off snogging in the staff room or stealing into empty classrooms for an afternoon quickie. For that matter, he didn't particularly want to think about it.

They turned a corner down a narrower dimly lit hall, and they were forced by Hagrid's bulk to walk single file- Harry in front so that his view of any danger before them, or a clear shot if such arose, would not be blocked by the half-giant.

"Did Filch mention how many of these things we should be looking for?"

"Reckons a pair, pro'ly lookin fer new nesting ground."

"Oh, that's just great," Harry muttered under his breath, and raised his wand a bit higher, casting light down the long dark hallway.

That's when the scuttling noise started from the other end of the hallway. Harry had enough time to glimpse two moving shadows when he felt the castle push against his senses. He stumbled and the light from his wand flickered as he lost his concentration. "Not now," he grumbled, pushing back against the castle and struggling to regain control of his senses. His wand burst into light just in time to see that the spiders were much closer now- a clear and present danger.

He had time to shoot off a stunning spell at the larger acromantula, even as the smaller leaped at Hagrid and was consequently grappled to the floor. The one Harry had stunned flew back several meters, but regained its feet in an instant, once more scuttling toward him. He cast a quick, "petrificus totalus," and the massive spider froze- three of its hairy, spindly legs raised in the air, and its body leaned forward in its momentum.

Harry turned, ready to do the same to the one that had attacked Hagrid, but the large man already had the writhing spider pinned to the ground and was using some kind of thin white cord to tie its legs against its body and immobilize it.

He grunted as he got to his feet and brushed himself off, barely winded. "They've become nearly unmanageable since Aragog died," he said. "Rather not kill em unless it's absolutely nec'ssary though. We'll plop these two righ' back in the f'rbidden forest where they belong." He then hoisted the spider, struggling but unable to move, up over his shoulder with as little care as a sack of potatoes.

Harry, still a bit shaken, hovered the other near at hand and followed Hagrid back the way they had come.

As they turned the corner and the corridor once more widened out before them, they passed by a large group of Slytherins, probably on their way out to the grounds to spend some time before dinner. The students flattened themselves against the walls on either side of the hall to let the two men pass. Harry turned to see wide eyes trained on him, and he flashed a wide grin at one of the third years. The boy flushed and grinned back.

"That is so weird," Harry said once they were out of earshot of the students.

"How's that?" Hagrid asked.

"The Slytherins," Harry explained. "Damian says that they've adopted me."

Hagrid considered that. "Acting what you'd call propriet'ry?"

Harry nodded.

"Ah, that's to be 'spected."

As they climbed their way up out of the dungeons and walked through the Great Hall, they were met by more students from the other houses, and they fell silent- walking along casually as if they were doing nothing more interesting than having an afternoon stroll.

They'd made it out onto the grounds and were heading toward the spot where the edge of the forest met the garden of Hagrid's cabin, rebuilt after the fire damage, when there was a shriek from back the way they had come, and Harry turned to see a streak of black robes, dark hair, and a Slytherin green tie, running toward them. Harry paused when he identified the shape as Damian Warrick, and waited for the boy to catch up to them, holding up a hand to stop the boy from getting too close.

"Careful, Damian, stay back," he said.

Warrick was quiet for only a moment as he gasped to catch his breath, and then he started babbling. "The castle was freaking out: just kept sending me images of giant spiders and dark hallways. Then I tried to find you, but the castle kept changing its mind about where you were. And I ran into one of the third years, said you were heading this way. Are you okay?"

Harry regarded him sternly. "I am just fine Mr. Warrick, but what exactly were you planning to do if that wasn't the case?"

Damian looked sheepish. "I don't know," he shrugged, "try to help."

"And endanger yourself in the process?"

Damian shuffled his feet.

"Oh, leave 'im be, 'Arry," Hagrid said. "I's no differ'nt than you'd've done a' his age."

Harry snorted. "That's what worries me." He sighed. "Well, come on, Damian. As long as you've gone to all the trouble, you might as well give us a hand."

Damian looked skeptical. "Where are you going, sir?"

"Don't tell me you were all set to rescue me from a couple of gigantic man-eating spiders, but you're afraid of a little walk in the forest?"

"No, sir." Damian shook his head, but he still looked trepidatious.

"We'll take the dog," Hagrid said. He whistled, and Fang came loping toward them from around the other side of the hut- his jowls flopping and trailing strings of spittle as he ran. He bowled into first Hagrid, and then gave over his attention to sniffing the strange new boy, practically knocking him over.

"Good boy," Damian said, scratching the boarhound behind his ears.

Harry looked to Damian and nodded approval, and the party made their way into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"I don't appreciate this," Severus said as he took a seat in one of the chairs before the desk in the minister of magic's office.

"I don't much care," Kinsley replied.

Severus tried to stare him down, but Kingsley met his eyes and didn't look away.

"What do you want?" Severus asked finally. "I'm busy. I don't have time to play games."

"You've put me in an awkward position," Shaklebolt said. "I expect some compensations for all the grief you've cause."

"I don't see-"

"Shut up," Shaklebolt cut him off. "You're going to listen to what I say, and then you're going to agree to my terms and be on your best behavior, or I will remove you from that school."

Severus regarded him skeptically. While technically, the minister of magic had the legal power to force any one of Hogwarts' staff members to resign. This was a technicality, because the castle itself could easily choose to ignore this. Severus had no doubt that the castle would not allow him to be removed from the premises without a fight. He didn't bother to mention this to Kingsley, just sat in his chair looking blandly at the other man. He should know better than to attempt a threat.

"Firstly, now that you have him, you are going to do everything in your power to assure Harry Potter's happiness. If he tells you he thinks you would look good in pink, you ask him what shade. Do I make myself clear?"

Severus said nothing, and Kingsley continued unfazed. "Secondly, you're going to agree to host the summer program that I've been advocating. It's the very least you can do for the children orphaned by the war, and with your own history, I can't understand why you've been hedging."

Severus still did not show any acknowledgement of what Kingsley had said.

"And thirdly, you and Potter are going to be the poster boys for wizard-muggle relations, house reconciliation, and the reconstruction."

Now Severus stood up. His full height towered above Kingsley seated behind his desk. "Your first two conditions I will ascent to- provided Minerva agrees to oversee the school for half the summer. The third… you should know better than to suggest. If Harry finds his picture on a billboard, or his name in an article, and discovers that you're behind it, I will not protect you from his retribution. He's been used enough, and he does not agree with the ministry agenda. In the interest of keeping him happy, I'm offering you this single warning. Don't press your luck."

With that Severus strode toward the door. He paused before leaving, the door half open. "And one other thing, Kingsley."

The minister turned to him, looking out of sorts from Severus' rebuttal.

"Don't ever threaten me again," he said, robes swishing out behind him as he swept from the office.

xXxXxXxXxXx

They left the spiders deep in the forest at the edge of the acromantula's main nesting ground, and hurried away before the monsters could regain their senses. Even at the pace they'd set, it was dark by the time they made it back onto the grounds, and the temperature had dropped so low that even the Fang was shivering.

"Back to my place for a cuppa?" Hagrid asked.

Both of the younger men nodded, teeth chattering, and they followed Hagrid toward the warm, inviting little cottage on the edge of the forest.

Damian was practically running, Fang nipping at his heels and barking, as they approached the cobbles leading to Hagrid's door.

"Go on inside," Hagrid called to him. He and Hagrid were back some distance, moving at a more leisurely pace. "Get the fire going."

Damian reached for the door handle, but the second his fingers brushed the wrought-iron, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he crumpled to the ground.

Harry sighed as he watched Damian fall. He closed his eyes, brow furrowed, and jaw clenched- giving over to frustration for just a moment. Then he jogged to where Damian lay and propped him against the door, snapping his fingers in front of the boy's face with no result.

"Is ee okay?" Hagrid asked, worry leaking into his voice.

"He'll be fine," Harry said, "just help me get him inside."

Hagrid lifted the boy easily, and Harry held the door open for him. Hagrid brought Damian in out of the cold and laid him gently down in the middle of his gigantic bed.

xXxXxXxXxXx

_Godric slid the plane across the plank of oak he was working on. Thin curls of wood shaved off it like doll hair. He was so concentrated on his work that he didn't notice the other man watching him until a sharp bark of laughter drew his attention up._

_ Salazar stood there, wearing a worn black travel cloak despite the late summer heat. "What are you doing?" he asked, surveying Godric's work so far._

_ "I'm building a cottage," Gryffindor grunted._

_ "A cottage?" Salazar looked over at the loose stone foundation and rudimentary framework. "more like a large hut."_

_ "Go away Salazar," Godric said, turning his back on the other man to resume his work._

_ Slytherin ignored him, taking a seat on the raised stone platform of the half-finished foundation next to Gryffindor's folded cloak and shirt. Godric's wand had been carefully placed on top of the pile, and Salazar picked it up and began twirling it between his fingers. "Wouldn't it be easier if you used this?" he asked._

_ Godric glanced over at him. "Put that down."_

_ Salazar ignored him again, still twirling the wand back and forth like a baton. He studied the lines and muscles of Godric's back, the sweat standing out in beads on the tan skin, and the thick line of white scar tissue curled along the man's spine._

_ Gryffindor sighed; it took a great effort of will to return his concentration to the piece of wood before him. "It's not about being easy," he ground out. "I'm trying to keep my hands busy and my mind off _you_."_

_ "It's not working very well then, is it?" Salazar asked, grinning._

_ "What do you want, Sal?"_

_ "I missed you, so I came back early. I'd rather hoped for a warmer welcome. Aren't you happy to see me at all?"_

_ "Of course I'm happy to see you," Godric said, a sad smile gracing his lips. "I just don't want to talk to you right now."_

_ "That's fine," Salazar said, nodding. He rose to his feet, taking off his cloak and laying it beside Gryffindor's. "We don't have to talk." He walked over to the pile of fieldstone waiting to be added to the foundation of the cottage. Salazar pulled his wand out and pointed it at one of the larger stones, hovering it over and fitting it neatly into an opening in the foundation._

_ Gryffindor turned his back to him again, and continued laboring over the plank of oak. They worked on through the heat of the afternoon, Salazar eventually removing his sweat-drenched shirt and tossing it over to the pile of their things. He finished the foundation as Godric was ready to put the final framework up, and the other man finally gave up on the manual labor and took out his wand, slotting the beams and boards into the holes left in the foundation, and fixing them together._

_ "Well, what's it for?" Salazar asked, once this process had been completed. Their project now looked like the skeleton of a little cottage._

_ Gryffindor stepped in beside him and leaned against his shoulder, their sweaty skin sticking them together. "It's for us," he said. "I thought that maybe the next time you needed to get away from me you could go somewhere a little closer to hand. Or the next time I need to get away from you. That way when I change my mind, I'm not stuck in Spain, or up a mountain in Peru."_

_ "And the next time we need to be together?" Salazar asked._

_ Gryffindor smiled. "We might want some walls first."_

_ "Tomorrow," he leaned over and kissed the top of the shorter man's head- smelling his hair and sweat. "I suppose I should go check on the overgrown lizard."_

_ "He's down in the chamber. I think he misses you."_

_ "I'm home now, and I'm not going anywhere."_

_ "That's what you always say when you come back, but it never lasts."_

_ "No, but I'm back now."_

_ Gryffindor nodded, and slipped an arm around Salazar's waist. "Things will be okay for a while. I guess that's all we can ever hope for."_

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry and Hagrid were sipping tea by the blazing fireplace when Damian's eyes flickered open.

"Your bed is a lot more comfortable than the ones in the hospital wing, Professor Hagrid. I think I'm going to come here from now on."

"Yer always welcome, but wha' happened?"

"See anything interesting?" Harry asked.

"Did you know that Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin built your house, Professor Hagrid?" Damian asked, sitting up.

Hagrid blinked in surprise at this sudden pronouncement. "I didn't know tha', Mr. Warrick."

"Yup," Damian said, swinging his legs out and hopping out of bed. "It was their love-nest."

Harry shook his head, laughing at the overly happy tone in Damian's voice. "Slytherin came back from wherever he went for the summer holidays early, and they argued like they always do, then they worked on the cottage, and they were going to check on Abby."

"Abby?" Harry asked.

"The dragon."

"Ah," Harry said. "Nothing adult rated this time?"

"My innocence is preserved!" Damian crowed, cheeky grin plastered over his face, and plopped into the open chair by the fire.

"I had a dragon named Norbert," Hagrid said after a moment of silence, and Harry couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

xXxXxXxXxXx

It was late when Harry finally escorted Damian back to his common room and headed up to his own rooms. He still needed to talk to Severus, and hoped that he was back from London. He'd been about to turn toward the gargoyle leading to the headmaster's quarters when he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and turned toward his own portrait instead. Rather than the twinkling smile of Dumbledore, he was met with a scowl.

"What are you doing back?" Harry asked.

Greggory harrumphed. "Albus has taken over my portrait in the dungeons, and I have been banished back here. He and Bertram have made some kind of arrangement- the details of which I would rather not consider."

"What?"

"We share the body. Without my consent sexual favors given in trade may be considered not only prostitution, but also rape."

Harry's face crumpled in disgust and he gagged in his mouth. "I don't want to know about that."

"I wish I didn't either."

"Can portraits even have sex?"

"I assure you they can."

Harry gagged again, thinking about what went on in the halls of Hogwarts when the student were all safely in bed. "I don't think I want to know about that either."

Greggory shrugged. "I'd try to restrain him again before morning, but that could make it worse."

Harry didn't particularly want to know about that either. "Ew." He shook his head trying to rid it of the image. "Did you see Severus come in?"

"An hour ago," Greggory said. "He wasn't pleased to see me."

"Did you tell him about your sex life?"

"I was violated, Potter. I expect justice."

"Not my problem," Harry said. "I'm going to bed."

"You'd better make it your problem, or I won't let you in."

Harry nodded at him, smiling, then turned to the gargoyle, muttered the password, and left Greggory alone to solve his own troubles.

Severus was waiting in his office when Harry stepped off the staircase. "How did everything go with Kingsley?" he asked.

"It's handled," Severus said, getting up. "It's been a tiresome day, and now I wish to go to bed."

Harry nodded. "I guess you know Greg and Bertram are back."

Severus shuddered. "I know a great more than I would like to on the subject. Now, come, Potter, bed." He took Harry by the hand and led him through into what had pretty much become _their_ quarters.

"I like it when you use the words Potter, come, and bed in the same sentence."

"Sleep," he amended. "Where have you been anyway?"

"Hagrid's, I helped him trap a couple of acromantula that had gotten into the castle."

Severus stopped. "Inside the castle?"

Harry nodded.

"Why wasn't I informed?" He paused. "Never mind, I guess I'm not surprised."

"Oh, and I found this in the mail." Harry pulled the letter from Valora out of his robes and handed it over. "I don't understand any of the potion's mumbo-jumbo, but it looks like we're dealing with a paradox potion."

Severus snatched the letter from him, and glared at the figures. "So it would seem."

"Also, did you know that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor built Hagrid's hut to use as a love-nest?"

Severus glanced up from the letter to Harry, frown fading away to a blank stare.

"And I'm now an honorary Slytherin."

Now the frown resurfaced.

"You see what happens when you leave?"


End file.
